cover image Justice Not Vengeance: Recollections

Justice Not Vengeance: Recollections

Simon Wiesenthal. Grove/Atlantic, $21.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-1-55584-341-0

At 80, renowned Nazi-hunter Wiesenthal recalls his escapes from death in concentration camps where his family perished, and his career tracking down war criminals. The shattering account, as riveting as a spy yarn, concerns his ruthless global pursuit of hundreds of murderers and collaborators, including Adolf Eichmann, Joseph Mengele and the SS officer who arrested Anne Frank. Wiesenthal's guilt at having survived the Holocaust inspires thoughts about individual vs. collective guilt, forgiveness, expiation and other moral issues. The author expresses alarm over continuing anti-Semitism worldwide and the Neo-Nazis' denial of the Holocaust, and fears that the young's ignorance of the Jewish genocide could allow a recurrence. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)