Tributes for Wiesenthal

About 200 people gathered Wednesday in the old Jewish section of the main city cemetery here for a somber ceremony honoring the late Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter who was viewed with both reverence and discomfort in his home country.

The mourners, most of them older people, included important political figures in Austria as well as ordinary Viennese, Christians as well as Jews and Roma, two groups that were persecuted by Germany’s Third Reich.

Wiesenthal, who died Tuesday at 96, had survived the Nazi death camps and dedicated the remainder of his life to bringing war criminals to justice.

Because of security concerns, the rites were held in a ceremonial hall. Vienna police and guards for the Jewish community in the city provided the security.

Some who attended decided after reading about the memorial in the newspapers to make the journey to the working-class 11th District. Others found themselves there by chance, and still others were members of Austria’s now small Jewish community.

Peter Prinz, 47, a native Viennese, was moved to come when he read about Wiesenthal’s death. He was momentarily at a loss for words as he looked at the assembled dignitaries and joined them in donning the yarmulke, the skullcap worn by Jewish men in religious observance.

“Simon Wiesenthal did so much for dealing with Austria’s past in the right way. He was a great person,” said Prinz, who described himself as active in anti-fascist causes.

Many Austrians have deeply ambivalent feelings about Wiesenthal because he forced them to think about a period of their history that many preferred to forget. About 65,000 Austrian Jews died in Nazi concentration camps.

Austria has three cases against former Nazis still underway. The most well-known involves Heinrich Gross, a chief doctor at Spiegelgrund, a hospital in Vienna where Nazis carried out often lethal experiments on mentally and physically impaired children.

The official speakers praised Wiesenthal for his contribution to humankind and for his belief that those directly responsible for policies that led to mass murder, rather than entire nations, should be held accountable for the war crimes.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel told those gathered that Wiesenthal was a man with enormous drive who had changed the way guilt was assessed for mass crimes.

“Wiesenthal’s ... search for facts, not accusations, has its international impact; the individualizing of guilt as opposed to collective guilt,” Schuessel said. “Now we have even greater responsibility to continue his work.”

Also in attendance was Israeli Ambassador Dan Ashbel and the leaders of Austria’s Jewish, Catholic, Protestant and Muslim communities.

Wiesenthal, who lost much of his family in the Holocaust, has been credited with tracking down 1,100 Nazi war criminals after World War II. He helped bring to justice Adolf Eichmann, the architect of wartime Germany’s effort to exterminate the Jews of Europe.

Austria’s chief rabbi, Paul Chaim Eisenberg, acknowledged that Wiesenthal initially might have seemed to be on a mission to force people to face their guilt.

“Maybe in the beginning it was anger because of his dead family members,” Eisenberg said, “but at the end of the day it was a drive for justice.”

Rudolf Sarkoezi, head of the Cultural Assn. of the Austrian Romas, said he wanted to be sure Wiesenthal’s commitment to obtain justice for Romas was recognized as well.

“He was a great fighter for justice, not only for the Jews but also for us Romas.... We have been in close contact with Wiesenthal and the Jewish community here for many years. I always say that ‘between us and the Jewish community there’s not even room for a sheet of paper.’ ”

The mood was sober, even restrained; there was no sound of weeping.

Before the start of the simple 30-minute service, Wiesenthal’s daughter, Paulinka Kreisberg, and her husband, Gerard, sat silently in front of the coffin, which was covered with a plain black cloth.

Those who spontaneously decided to pay their tribute packed the hall behind the rows of seats for officials.

Paula Herzfeld, 73, who lives in Portugal, said she came on the spur of the moment. She was 6 when her family emigrated from Austria to escape Nazi prosecution.

“My grandparents stayed behind, and they were later murdered in a gas chamber in a camp near the town of Lodz [now in Poland],” Herzfeld said.

Every year, she visits Vienna’s Central Cemetery in remembrance of her grandparents and all Holocaust victims. This year, her visit coincided with Wiesenthal’s memorial service.

“My father was so affected by what had happened to my grandparents that he never uttered a word about it at home,” Herzfeld said. “I learned the whole truth from Simon Wiesenthal.”

Wiesenthal’s body will be transported today to Israel, where he will be buried Friday.

Shimon Samuels of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Paris office, who had known and worked with the Nazi hunter for 25 years, said, “He did not want to be buried in Austria, as he was afraid his grave will be mutilated.”

Elisabeth Penz of The Times’ Vienna Bureau contributed to this report.