Simon Wiesenthal: Famed Nazi Hunter Dies at 96

Simon Wiesenthal was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who spent decades tracking down Nazi war criminals. Born on December 31, 1908, in Buczacz, then part of Austria-Hungary, he survived several concentration camps, including Mauthausen.

After the war he opened the Jewish Historical Documentation Center in Vienna, which helped locate about 1,100 fugitives. He helped find Adolf Eichmann, who was captured in Argentina in 1960 and executed in 1962. The Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, founded in 1977, bears his name.

He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2000 and an honorary British knighthood. Wiesenthal died in his sleep at his home in Vienna on September 20, 2005, at age 96.

Achievements: Presidential Medal of Freedom (2000), namesake of the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Birth: December 31, 1908 - Buczacz, Austria-Hungary.

Profession: Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter.

Interesting Facts: He survived multiple Nazi camps.