"We have lost an irreplaceable friend, patron and adviser"

In grateful memory of Simon Wiesenthal (96) the President of the Society for Threatened Peoples International (GfbV), Tilman Zülch, says:

Through the death of Simon Wiesenthal the Society for Threatened Peoples International (GfbV) has lost an irreplaceable friend, patron and adviser. For more than three decades Simon Wiesenthal accompanied the work of the human rights organisation and always lent generous support. Public opinion throughout the world is fully aware of his unforgettable achievements for those persecuted by the Nazi war criminals, but too few of his consistent work for the forgotten victims of genocide, expulsion and the war crimes of the present time. But he was always particularly concerned with the human rights of the minorities threatened and persecuted on the grounds of their ethnic origin or religion. Wiesenthal was always careful not to lay any collective blame, but to point out the responsibility of individual criminals and their regimes.

We recall in deep gratitude his helpful and guiding initiatives for justice and reconciliation. In 1981 Simon Wiesenthal took on with the Indian prime Minister, Indira Ghandi, the patronage of the World Roma Congress organised by the GfbV in Göttingen, in which Roma, Sinti, gypsies, gitanos and many others from 28 countries took part. Our thanks go out especially to him for the fact that this congress and the ensuing human rights work was seen throughout the world and that finally the Federal President, Karl Carstens, and the Federal Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, were moved to recognize the genocide of the Nazis to the Sinti and Roma, to beg forgiveness officially from the survivors and to take the first steps in making amends for the past.

When the Bosnian Muslims became victims of genocide, a war of aggression and ethnic cleansing on the part of the neighbouring countries Simon Wiesenthal warned the international community not to be blind on one eye. Together with the President of the Federal Parliament, Rita Süssmuth, and the Bosnian Prime Minister, Hans Silajdzic, he took on the patronage of the World Congress in Bonn organised by the GfbV in August 1995, in which 150 prominent persons from five continents took part. In 1993 Wiesenthal had already invited a GfbV-delegation of four to New York to report on the genocide in Bosnia.

We mourn for our friend Simon Wiesenthal, who also stood by us in difficult situations with advice and assistance.