Simon Wiesenthal > Quotes

“God must have been on leave during the Holocaust.”
― Simon Wiesenthal

“Forgetting is something time alone takes care of, but forgiveness is an act of volition, and only the sufferer is qualified to make the decision”
― Simon Wiesenthal

“For evil to flourish, it only requires good men to do nothing.”
― Simon Wiesenthal

“There were millions of such families anxious only for peace and quiet in their own little nests. These were the mounting blocks by which the criminals climbed to power and kept it.”
― Simon Wiesenthal

“For him we were as good as dead; each of us was carrying around his own death certificate, from which only the date was missing.”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

“The best and most effective espionage service in the world belongs to the Vatican.”
― Simon Wiesenthal

“Nosotros, como todas las razas, tenemos nuestros santos y nuestros pecadores, nuestros cobardes y nuestros héroes.”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“Un judío sigue siendo judío, con o sin piernas”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“Los nazis consideraban la eutanasia como una clase de ejecución casi ética y la reservaban para miembros de su propia raza”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“To forgive without justice is a self-satisfying weakness. Justice without love is simulation of strength.”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower with a Symposium

“For evil to flourish it takes only a few good men to do nothing.”
― Simon Wiesenthal

“Did he know already that he would get a sunflower when he was buried? The murderer would own something even when he was dead…And I?”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

“The crux of the matter is, of course, the question of forgiveness. Forgetting is something that time alone takes care of, but forgiveness is an act of volition, and only the sufferer is qualified to make the decision.”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

“Humour is the weapon of unarmed people: it helps people who are oppressed to smile at the situation that pains them.”
― Simon Wiesenthal

“Siempre habrá personas con un punto de vista distinto. En mi país tenemos demócratas y republicanos. Aquí vosotros tenéis nazis y antinazis. Eso es lo que hace que el mundo no se pare.”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“Justicia, no venganza”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“Los hombres eran endurecidos en Rabka para que no se derrumbaran tras unas pocas semanas de servicios y tenían que hacerse insensibles a la sangre, a los gritos de agonía de mujeres y niños, debiendo realizar el trabajo con el mínimo ruido y la máxima eficacia”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“I stood up and looked in his direction, at his folded hands. Between then there seemed to rest a sunflower.
At last I made up my mind and without a word I left the room.”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

“you will find that in the history of man since the beginning of Creation, love and justice have opposed each other. At one period justice was the human ideal, at another, love. The divine idea of justice in love, love in justice, mankind has magnanimously left to the Creator.”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

“La reconciliación sólo es posible sobre la base del conocimiento de la realidad”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“Arthur said: “A superman has asked a subhuman to do something which is superhuman. If you had forgiven him, you would never have forgiven yourself all your life.”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

“It would have been to know himself as having forfeited forever any questionable right to “die in peace.” Perhaps then, and only then, in knowing his absolute unforgivability, would it even be conceivable that he be granted forgiveness—and then only by those three burning souls, multiplied by millions.”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

“La restitución moral es más fuerte que la restitución material”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“No hay libertad sin justicia”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“It is impossible to believe anything in a world that has ceased to regard man as man which repeatedly proves that one is no longer a man. so when one begins to doubt one begins to cease to believe in a world order in which God has a different place. One really begins to think that God is on leave.”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower with a Symposium

“Sobrevivir era un trabajo que requería todas las horas del día”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“And I reflect that people like him are still being born, people who can be indoctrinated with evil. Mankind is ostensibly striving to avert catastrophes; medical progress gives us hope that one day disease can be conquered, but will we ever be able to prevent the creation of mass murderers?”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness

“Si un "estudiante" no se desmoronaba cuando tenía que matar a los suyos, no tendría escrúpulo moral para exterminar miles de Untermenschen. El "estudiante" que no lo resistía, era enviado al frente, donde sus superiores lo destinaban a un Himmetfahrtskommando, escuadrón suicida”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“¿Podían los muchachos ser culpados por los pecados de sus progenitores? Ciertamente no eran ellos los responsables”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us

“Pero yo, incluso mucho antes de haber tenido tiempo de meditar detenidamente, comprendí que no debíamos olvidar. SI todos nosotros olvidábamos, podía volver a ocurrir lo mismo al cabo de veinte, cincuenta o cien años”
― Simon Wiesenthal, The Murderers Among Us