Simon Wiesenthal Dies at the Age of 96!
Arnold Praises a True Action Hero!
Reported By: TheARNOLDFANS.com Staff
Saturday, September 24, 2005

Arnold and his wife, Maria Shriver, praised Simon Wiesenthal, who died in Vienna on Tuesday at the age of 96, for turning the tables on the Nazis, who pursued and tortured the Jewish people during World War II.

"Maria and I are deeply saddened at the passing of our great friend," Schwarzenegger and Shriver said in a statement, adding that they had last seen Wiesenthal in Vienna last year.

"Simon was a lion of a man, a survivor and a conqueror, a hero in every sense of the word. He suffered unspeakable hardships in the Nazi death camps, but he did not let them break his spirit or compromise his will to live."

After surviving internment in the Mauthausen concentration camp and having lost family members in the Holocaust, Wiesenthal launched a tireless quest to bring Nazis to justice, Schwarzenegger said.

"Simon turned the tables on the Nazi torturers and tormentors. He hunted them and brought them back into the light of day to answer for their crimes.

"Though he often seemed alone in its pursuit, he did not falter and he never wavered from his goal. He spoke for those who could no longer speak, and he honored their memory by bringing their persecutors to justice," the California governor wrote.

"His courage, his determination and his ability to rise above the horrors of the Holocaust and become its hero will never be forgotten. I will always be grateful that I knew one of the greatest men of our time," he said.

The governor has long been a champion of the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center, which was founded in 1977 to fight bigotry and prejudice against the Jewish people.