Sails of Hope: the Secret Mission of Christopher Columbus

by Simon Wiesenthal

Did Columbus discover America while looking for a haven for Spain's persecuted Jews? Was Columbus Jewish? Five years of detective work and painstaking research in Spain, Portugal, the Vatican, and North Africa convinced Simon Wiesenthal, world-famous head of the Documentation Center in Vienna, that Columbus was of Jewish origin and that his 1492 voyage was actually a desperate search for a new homeland for the Jews.

Genres: History

255 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1973

About the author

Simon Wiesenthal, KBE, was an Austrian-Jewish architectural engineer and Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter who pursued Nazi war criminals in an effort to bring them to justice.

Following four and a half years in the German concentration camps such as Janowska, Plaszow, and Mauthausen during World War II, Wiesenthal dedicated most of his life to tracking down and gathering information on fugitive Nazis so that they could be brought to justice for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In 1947, he co-founded the Jewish Historical Documentation Center in Linz, Austria, in order to gather information for future war crime trials. Later he opened Jewish Documentation Center in Vienna. Wiesenthal wrote The Sunflower, which describes a life-changing event he experienced when he was in the camp.

A biography by Guy Walters asserts that many of Wiesenthal's claims regarding his education, wartime experiences and Nazi hunting exploits are false or exaggerated. Walters calls Wiesenthal’s claims "an illusion mounted for a good cause". It is difficult to establish a reliable narrative of Wiesenthal’s life due to the inconsistencies between his three memoirs which are in turn all contradicted by contemporary records. It is partly thanks to Wiesenthal that the Holocaust has been remembered and properly documented.

Wiesenthal died in his sleep at age 96 in Vienna on September 20, 2005, and was buried in the city of Herzliya in Israel on 23 September. He is survived by his daughter, Paulinka Kriesberg, and three grandchildren. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, located in Los Angeles in the United States, is named in his honor.

Reviews

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 4 out of 5]

His thesis is that Columbus was really Jewish and that his real reason for journeying to find a passage to India was to find a new homeland for the Jews. Interesting but hard to believe. See the young adult novel Freedom Beyond the Sea by Waldtraut Levin.

I have found since reading this book that Wiesenthal's reputation for accuracy is seriously in question. (See: http://www.ihr.org/leaflets/wiesentha... )

[Sanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extraordinary book, highly teaching and helping people understand history. It was a real feast and I warmly recommend it to all youngsters who want to understand the world we live in.

[Roberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

La labor del historiador tiene diferentes caras, desde rata de biblioteca hasta divulgador convencido y, más quisiera, convincente. El método histórico, falible pero esencial si se pretende hacer ciencia y no sólo relato, pasa por diferentes fases: documentación y, en ocasiones, investigación; cotejo y valoración crítica de los datos obtenidos; interpretación de esos datos y extracción de conclusiones evidentes y casi forzadas; enunciación de hipótesis verosímiles y plausibles; comprobar o falsar, si es posible, esas hipótesis; y elaboración de conclusiones, o tesis, que posiblemente redunden en nuevas vías de estudio.
Wiesenthal, conocido por su labor para llevar ante la justicia a varios dirigentes nazis, aplica en este libro el método histórico de forma harto irregular. Su labor de documentación parece rigurosa y resulta evidente como varios judíos o descendientes de judíos participaron en la organización y financiación en la expedición de Cristobal Colón. A partir de ahí, sus tesis no son siempre sostenibles por igual. Todo historiador hace Historia desde el presente pero ha de evitar, en la medida de lo posible, hacer presentismo, esto es: valorar, interpretar y comprender los hechos pasados desde los parámetros, intenciones, deseos, proyectos e intereses actuales. Así, pone en la misma balanza documentos y leyendas, hechos y supuestos deseos, previsibles intenciones no demostradas con acciones determinadas. Para el autor el sionismo de los judíos medievales y renacentistas es un hecho, algo cuanto menos controvertido, para luego contradecirse afirmando que los descendientes de los judíos españoles se sentían ante todo sefardíes y añoraban su Sefarad mucho más que un ilusorio estado judío. No afirma que Colón fuese judío, o descendiente, pero insiste en aventurar posibilidades mal sustentadas en su supuesta y desconocida ascendencia. Por otro lado es sugerente el apunte que ofrece de un traductor de hebreo en el primer viaje del almirante, algo sólo útil si pensaban encontrarse con comunidades hebreas al fin del viaje.
En suma, un libro interesante para conocer algunos mimbres sobre los que se armó el viaje colombino pero que hay que leer precavidamente pues Wiesenthal utiliza un hecho pasado para reivindicar el judaísmo contemporáneo: dolerse del holocausto, defender la necesidad y el derecho de un estado judío, primar la importancia cultural e intelectual de los judíos o denunciar el desprecio hacia el judío. Una obra aparentemente histórica pero insidiosamente política.

[Miguel I. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome book for those who refuse to believe in the Spanish crown's racist views towards non-Spaniards. Starting with a brief overview of the racial situation in 14th-century Iberian Peninsula, the author explains that at the time, Muslim and Jewish converts faced prosecution by white Spanish Christians who were scrutinizing their family trees. Should they be found guilty of having Muslim and/or Jewish blood, they could be subjected to deportation.
Later, the book reveals that Columbus attended the Majorcan Cartographic School and other very compelling things that exposed Columbus as a Jew. While the book feels slightly biased, the information provided on Jewish history and how they obtained their surnames is very interesting.

[Levi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed his book, it's full of interesting details of the life of Colombus as well as some cool possible theories.

[R Sternfels · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly detailed with complelling evidence that Columbus was Jewish. This is an excellent history of the inquisition with reference to Columbus and the discovery of the new world.

[Marge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of interesting information but highly speculative about Columbus