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History
1977 - 1978
 Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley (left) hosted a press conference for Simon Wiesenthal (right) to launch the inauguration of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. |
 A congressional resolution regarding the statute of limitations on Nazi war criminals was introduced by New York representative Elizabeth Holtzman (center). Also pictured are Simon Wiesenthal (left) and Martin Mendelsohn, the Center's legal counsel. |
1979
Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, California Governor Jerry Brown, Simon Wiesenthal and Esther Cohen, chairwoman of the Wiesenthal Center (at podium) were among 3,000 people who participated in the historic opening of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. |
The fate of Ethiopian Jewry was addressed at the Center. Rachamin Alazar (center) spoke of the long isolated and neglected black Jews of Ethiopia. Also pictured are Efraim Zuroff (left), the Center's first director, and Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean (right). |
A Wiesenthal Center delegation to West Germany led by Rabbi Hier (left) lobbied Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (right) and parliamentarians in Bonn to continue prosecuting Nazi war criminals. |
Rabbi Cooper lead a group of students through the Wiesenthal Center's newly established Outreach progam. |
1980
 Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin (right) met with Rabbi Hier and a delegation on behalf of the plight of Southeast Asian "boat people." |
 Simon Wiesenthal (left) was presented with the Congressional Gold Medal by President Jimmy Carter (right) at a ceremony in the White House. |
 The Wiesenthal Center coordinated the State of California's first Holocaust Commemoration ceremony. |
1981
Antisemitic vandals targeted the Wiesenthal Center headquarters, the latest in a series of antisemitic incidents around the world. |
Over 3,000 people attended an interfaith solidarity rally at the Wiesenthal Center against antisemitism and bigotry. |
Rabbi Cooper represented the Wiesenthal Center at an International Tribunal on the fate of Raoul Wallenberg, lost hero of the Holocaust. |
Holocaust survivor and actor, Robert Clary (pictured right) addressed a groups of students during one of the Center's Outreach Programs. |
 Senate President Pro Tem David Roberti presented a joint resolution from the California State Legislature proclaiming Holocaust Remembrance week at the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Pictured (left to right) at the ceremony: Rabbi Hier, dean and founder of the Wiesenthal Center; Eliot B. Feldman, representing Governor Jerry Brown; Gordon Gerson, Chairman of the Jewish Public Affairs Council; Senator Roberti; and Michael Hirschfeld, Community Relations Committee of the Los Angeles Jewish Federation. |
1982
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 Genocide, the Wiesenthal Center's Academy AwardTM winning documentary tells the story of the millions of men, women, and children who fell victim to Hitler's "Final Solutiono". Pictured at the world premiere are (left to right) Simon Wiesenthal; Center Trustee, Abe Pollin; Chairman of the Center's Board of Trustees, Samuel Belzberg; Elizabeth Taylor, who, along with Orson Welles, narrated the film; Frank Sinatra; and Rabbi Hier.
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 In accepting the Academy AwardTM for Genocide, Rabbi Hier said, "This film is dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust; they have no graves but their memories live on until the end of time." Also pictured is Genocide co-producer Arnold Schwartzman. |
 Wiesenthal Center officials presented extensive documentation demanding the resignation of Herman J. Abs, Hitler's leading banker, from his position on the advisory board of the Vatican Bank. Pictured at the press conference are Rabbi Hier (at podium) and Rabbi Cooper (seated). |
1983
Accompanied by a Wiesenthal Center delegation, which included survivors of the Holocaust, Rabbi Hier dialogued with Pope John Paul II. |
The Conference on Antisemitism, held in Europe, brought together experts from around the world whose reports focused on the historical and contemporary aspects of neo-Nazism, antisemitism, and related issues. Following the conference, Center officials met with French Justice Minister Robert Badinter (pictured right). |
The Center led a Mission of Remembrance and Renewal to Poland in commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. |
 Center officials met with Italian Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani at his official residence in Rome. Pictured are Mr. Fanfani, his official interpreter, Rabbi Cooper, Marlene Hier, and Claudio de Polo. |
1984
Officials of the Wiesenthal Center met at the White House with President Ronald Reagan (center) and White House liaison on Jewish Affairs, Marshall Breger (left) to discuss the matter of Nazi war criminals, in particular Walter Rauff. Also pictured are Rabbi Hier (second left) Simon Wiesenthal (second right); and Samuel Belzberg, chairman of the Center's Board of Trustees (right). |
French President Francois Mitterrand (right) was presented with the Center's Humanitarian Award for his lifelong friendship with the Jewish people and his commitment to human rights. |
 Five Holocaust survivors filed a civil suit against Andrija Artukovic, the former Minister of the Interior of the Nazi puppet state of Croatia. The Center located the five survivors who were citizens of Yugoslavia when the Nazis installed the terrorist, fascist "Ustashi" organization as the government of Croatia. |
 Representatives of the Wiesenthal Center told Canada's Solicitor-General, Elmer MacKay (pictured) that more than 3,000 Nazi war criminals and collaborators may have entered Canada since World War II. |
1985
 
The Wiesenthal Center offered a $1 million reward for information leading to the capture of Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous Auschwitz "Angel of Death." A few months later, the Center sent a group of American scientific experts to aid Brazilian authorities in the forensic investigation when remains were found that might have been his. Pictured is Dr. Leslie Lukash, Chief Medical Examiner, Nassau County, New York (standing) and Dr. Eric Stover of Washington, D.C., American Association for the Advancement of Science. |
 The Wiesenthal Center led an international protest of President Reagan's decision to visit a military cemetery in Bitburg, West Germany, where Nazi troops were buried. Pictured are Rabbis Hier and Cooper who joined protesters from throughout Europe in the streets of Bitburg. |
1986
The Center convened its International Conference on Terrorism where it brought together a panel of terrorism experts. Pictured are (left to right) Ted Koppel, Nightline anchor who moderated the panel; Brian Michael Jenkins, Rand Corporation terrorism expert; Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's then-U. N Ambassador; Josef Joffe, editor of Munich's Suddeutsche Zeitung; and Robert McFarlane, former National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan. |
The Center redoubled its efforts in the hunt for Nazi war criminals by submitting preliminary lists of suspected Nazi war criminals living in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Venezuela, and Sweden to their respective governments. Pictured with Rabbi Hier and Cooper is Australian Foreign Minister Bill Hayden (right). |
The Wiesenthal Center launched a massive campaign to urge the Reagan administration to bar Kurt Waldheim from entering the U.S after reviewing the archival material dealing with his role in German atrocities in Yugoslavia and Greece during World War II. Rabbi Hier (pictured) testified at the Waldheim hearings in Washington, D.C. |
At a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Perez de Cuellar (pictured right), Rabbi Hier and Simon Wiesenthal urged Mr. de Cuellar to personally intervene with officials in Yugoslavia to ensure quick, full access to all documents relevant to the Waldheim case. |
1987
 
In order to further press the case of accused Nazi war criminal Antanas Gecas, Center officials met with the British Deputy Undersecretary David Faulkner (pictured second from right) and presented him with over 1,100 pages of documentation, including eyewitness testimony. Also pictured are Rabbi Cooper, Rabbi Hier, and Efraim Zuroff, director of the Center's Israel office. |
 The Wiesenthal Center released its "Most Wanted" list of Nazi war criminals. The publicity from the campaign led to the location, capture, extradition, and trial of Josef Schwammberger, one of the most notorious murderers on the list. |
The Wiesenthal Center launched a major national petition drive aimed at the Vatican in the aftermath of Pope John Paul II's meeting with Kurt Waldheim. The campaign asked the Vatican to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel. Pictured are Rabbi Meyer May (at podium), Wiesenthal Center Executive Director; and Robert Novak, the Center's National Director for Development (far right). |
 Rabbis Hier and Cooper travelled to Europe to focus on the identification and investigation of Nazi war criminals in Western countries. Pictured (left) with Rabbi Hier and Cooper is West German Justice Minister Hans Engelhard. |
1988
Rabbi Hier (pictured) called upon the Republican Party to adopt a resolution as part of its 1988 platform to rescind the infamous 'Zionism is Racism' resolution adopted by the United Nations. |
Then-Vice President George Bush (middle) and Barbara Bush (left) visited the Simon Wiesenthal Center and toured its Holocaust Museum during the 1988 Presidential campaign. |
After the Wiesenthal Center submitted data on seventeen alleged Nazi war criminals believed to be living in the U.K, British Home Secretary Douglas Hurd (right) announced that his government had established a two-man inquiry team to investigate the issue. Also pictured are Efraim Zuroff, director of the Center's Israel office and Rabbi Hier. |
After a fact-finding mission to Japan, the Center reported the proliferation of Japanese best-selling books with antisemitic themes had continued unabated. |
 Father Jozef Gorajek traveled from Poland to be reunited with Eugene Winnik, the man whose life he saved during the Holocaust. Father Gorajek received the Center's Certificate of Honor Award at a Yom Hashoah commemoration. Pictured (left to right) are C. Brooks Peters; Holocaust survivor Jack Mandel; Father Gorajek; Eugene Winnik; and Rabbi Cooper, Center associate dean. |
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres (at podium) visited the Center's Holocaust museum where he met with community leaders and delivered a major address on prospects for peace in the Middle East. Pictured (left to right) are Alan I. Casden, co-chairman of the Center's board of trustees; Israeli Consul General Eytan Ben Tsur; and Rabbis Cooper and Hier. |
 Former prisoner of conscience and sixteen-year Jewish refusenik, Josef Begun (at podium) released a statement at the Center from refuseniks still trapped in the Soviet Union and delineated their projected activities in connection with the upcoming Reagan-Gorbachev Summit in Moscow. |
1989
The Jerusalem Conference on Jewish Solidarity with Israel was hosted by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Over 1,300 Jewish leaders from around the world attended. Rabbi Hier was a member of the International Conference Steering Committee. |
The Wiesenthal Center found that the Frankfurt-based Degussa Company, the company caught shipping deadly chemicals to Libya, had also been a major shareholder in Degesh, the company that had supplied poison gas for the Auschwitz death camp. |
 In Los Angeles, nearly 800 people gathered at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the premiere of "Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story" starring Ben Kingsley. |
 Center officials undertook a fact-finding mission to Europe for meetings with government leaders on the Middle East and other important issues relevant to the Center's agenda. Pictured above with Chancellor Kohl (center) are Efraim Zuroff, director of the Center's Israel office; Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Center; Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean; and Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Center's European and Latin American director. |
 In response to the proposed building of a convent at Auschwitz, the Center urged its members to write to President Juruzelski of Poland asking him to take "immediate steps to preserve Auschwitz and all other Nazi sites from intrusion of any kind" |
Rabbi Cooper was invited by the Shanghai International Relations Studies Society to present a series of lectures on contemporary Jewish issues to members of the People's Republic of China's academic community. Pictured with Rabbi Cooper are members of the Studies Society. |
1990
 After intense protest by the Wiesenthal Center, Baxter International, the world's largest hospital supply firm, finally canceled its plans of building an intravenous fluid plant for the Syrian military in Damascus. Baxter cooperated with the Center in investigating the proposed plant and its potential use for harm by the Syrian military. |
 In response to the silence of the music industry over recent antisemitic and racist lyrics, the Center applauded the action taken by CBS Records' President and CEO Walter Yetnikoff on the issue of bigotry in music. |
 
"The Poison Gas Connection", a commissioned report detailing how 207 companies, 86 from Germany, provided Saddam Hussein with chemical and biological technology and weapons of mass destruction, was released by the Wiesenthal Center. |
 Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin (pictured right) met with community leaders in Los Angeles. Pictured with Rabin (left to right) are: Rabbi Hier and California Governor Pete Wilson. |
 In letters sent to West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and East German Premier Hans Modrow, Rabbi Hier shared his concerns about the reunification of Germany and a possible resurgence of nationalism, racism and antisemitism. Chancellor Kohl responded that the fears of Nazi-era survivors about Germany's reunification were unjustified, while Premier Modrow shared the Rabbi's concerns. |
The National Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. focused on issues relevant to the Center's agenda including Soviet-Jewish emigration and current Middle East concerns. Pictured at the Conference (left to right) are: Vice President Dan Quayle; Frances Belzberg, Center trustee; and former Soviet refusenik, Ida Nudel. |
1991
 
The Wiesenthal Center obtained neo-Nazi computer games in Germany and Austria instructing players how to efficiently run a concentration camp and send as many people as possible to the gas chamber. Subsequently, criminal investigations were initiated in Germany and Austria, and the U.S. Customs Department indicated that steps would be taken to bar the importing of such games to the U.S. |
Through its newly established National Task Force Against Hate, the Center launched a campaign to inform college newspaper editors of an effort underway by the Committee For Open Debate on the Holocaust to place advertisements in university publications across the United States that claimed the Holocaust was a hoax. |
 Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Havel (pictured left), a leading human rights activist and outspoken critic of contemporary antisemitism, received the Wiesenthal Center's Defender of Freedom Award during a ceremony at the Center's Holocaust museum. |
The trial of accused Nazi mass murderer Josef Schwammberger was the first major Nazi war crimes trial to be convened in the reunited Germany. He was arrested in Argentina after he was listed on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's "Most Wanted" list. Pictured are Holocaust victims and eyewitnesses the Center located and identified: Cesia Miller, Abraham Secemski, and Leon Gottdank (left to right) with Rabbi Marvin Hier. |
In Beijing, Center officials met with Chinese State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qian Qichen (right), to discuss China's role in the Middle East, including the opening of full diplomatic relations with Israel, the "Zionism is Racism" resolution, prospects for future educational and cultural ties between the Chinese and Jewish people, and other human rights issues. |
 Rabbi Hier (pictured above right) participated in a round table discussion with President George Bush and ecumenical leaders to discuss events of the Gulf War. At the same time, participants in the Wiesenthal Center's National Leadership Conference included former Ambassador to the United Nations, Jeanne Kirkpatrick; National Security Advisor, Brent Scowcroft; and Senator Alfonse D'Amato. |
1992
In an historic first, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) co-sponsored an International Conference on Antisemitism with the Simon Wiesenthal Center which brought together political leaders, opinion makers, historians and religious leaders from throughout the world to focus on the worldwide resurgence of antisemitism. The Center is accredited as an NGO at the United Nations. |
 The Center's National Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. heard from Jack Kemp, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Zalman Shoval, Israel's Ambassador to the U.S; and Senators Al Gore (D-TN); Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY); and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), among others. |
President Carlos Menem of Argentina (pictured above far left) announced that his nation's voluminous archives on the Nazi war criminals who found safe haven after World War II would be made available for the first time. Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Center's European and Latin American Director, was the first person to review the files. |
 In response to reports of "ethnic cleansing" in war-torn Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Wiesenthal Center initiated a worldwide petition campaign urging President Bush and the Western allies to take immediate, concrete action, including air strikes if necessary, to stop the "ethnic cleansing" and the mass deportations of innocent civilians being sent to detention camps and subjected to torture and murder in the former Yugoslavia. |
1993
  
In response to the growth of neo-Nazi groups and activities in Germany, the Wiesenthal Center undertook a six-month, three-continent undercover operation into the neo-Nazi movement. Yaron Svoray, an Israeli citizen, posed as Australian journalist Ron Furey and penetrated the leadership of Germany's hate groups. His investigation revealed Germany's neo-Nazi movement to be larger and more organized than previously believed, with worldwide links. |
At a press conference in New York, Svoray revealed details of his six-month infiltration into the neo-Nazi movement. His undercover operation was detailed in the book, "In Hitler's Shadow", and an HBO film based on the book aired in 1995. |
Center officials accompanied Svoray to Germany and debriefed government officials at Federal Police Headquarters in Meckenheim, Germany where they presented evidence of Svoray's undercover investigation. |
 
The U.S. Subcommittee on International Security, International Organizations and Human Rights, held a hearing on the human rights implications of the resurgence of racism and antisemitism. Rabbi Hier and Yaron Svoray were asked to testify. |
 
Members of the Fourth Reich Skinheads, who were implicated in a plot to trigger a race war through attacks on African-Americans and Jews in Los Angeles, spent a day at the Wiesenthal Center's Museum of Tolerance as part of their sentence where they had face-to-face meeting with Holocaust survivors, rabbis, and church officials. |
 In an historic ruling, a Russian court confirmed that the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" was a forgery and that its publication by the ultra-nationalist Pamyat organization constituted an antisemitic act. The Center provided financial and other technical assistance in the legal battle. Center officials also met with Russian Orthodox Father Gleb Yakunin (pictured second from left) in Moscow to discuss the case. |
1994
 The Center's report, "In Their Own Words" revealed that classical antisemitism is at the core of the rising influence of violent Middle East Islamic radical groups and details how leaders of the Islamic Jihad and Hamas repeatedly cite the notorious forgery, "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion", to justify their belief that "world Jewry is out to destroy Muslim and Christian societies." |
Almost 2,000 people attended the Center's Yom Hashoah commemoration honoring Mrs. Emilie Schindler (pictured center). She was joined by survivors that she and her husband, Oskar, had saved. Mrs. Schindler lit the memorial flame, assisted by Rabbi Abraham Klausner (left) who, as an American chaplain helped Holocaust victims to rebuild their lives after WWII. |
 Wiesenthal Center officials met with FBI Director Louis Freeh at FBI Headquarters in Washington and briefing him on the Center's undercover operation inside Germany's neo-Nazi movement. He was given materials gathered by Center researchers on the increased use of computer technology by bigots to promote hate. Pictured (left to right) are: Louis Freeh; Rabbi Hier; Martin Mendelsohn, the Center's legal counsel; and Rabbi Cooper. |
As a result of information supplied by the Wiesenthal Center, Erich Priebke, a high ranking Nazi official living in Argentina was found. He admitted to participating in the infamous 1944 Ardeatine Caves massacre in which 335 Italian civilians, including 75 Jews, were bound and shot in the back of the neck. Through the Center's efforts, Priebke was extradited to Italy, tried twice, found guilty, and was sentenced to life imprisonment. |
A Wiesenthal Center delegation was briefed in Jerusalem by Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and other top Israeli leaders on the Middle East situation. Seated right to left are: Rabbi Cooper; Center trustee Gordon Diamond; Rabbi Hier; trustees Merv Adelson and Marc Belzberg; and Rabbi Meyer May. |
 Against the backdrop of increased American pressure for Arab governments to dismantle the boycott of Israel, L'Oreal, the Paris-based cosmetics giant, was charged with collusion. Following pressure from the Wiesenthal Center, the company changed their policy and is now a leading investor in Israel. |
1995
 
The Jewish community building of Buenos Aires was demolished by a terrorist car bomb. Nearly 100 people died and over 200 were injured. In Los Angeles, the Consul Generals of Argentina and Israel held a joint press conference with Center officials on the bombing and released updated information on the dead and injured. |
 The Wiesenthal Center expressed concern over Louis Farrakhan's leadership role. Rabbi Hier called on black leaders to explicitly repudiate Farrakhan's hateful remarks, the latest of which called Jews, Asians and Arabs, "bloodsuckers...." The Center published The Truth Behind The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews, "a refutation of Louis Farrakhan's hateful canard, The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews." |
The Center launched its website aimed at highlighting the issues of online hatred and bigotry on the Internet. The web site can be accessed at http://www.wiesenthal.com |
 
A prominent Japanese magazine, "Marco Polo", published an article denying that any Jews were gassed at the Auschwitz death camp. The Center immediately protested to the Japanese Embassy in Washington and implemented an international corporate boycott against Marco Polo by contacting corporations who advertised in the magazine. The magazine was then permanently shut down. |
Center officials were among the expert witnesses called to testify before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information when Congress convened hearings on the Oklahoma City bombing. |
Officials of Rwanda, to help it deal with the aftermath of its shocking Genocide approached the Center. Dr. Efraim Zuroff, (pictured) Director of the Center's Israel office was invited to meet with Rwandan ministers, officials, and relief workers to discuss the challenges facing Rwanda. |
 
A community wide memorial was held at the Center's Museum of Tolerance following the tragic assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. |
The 50th anniversary of the end of WWII and the liberation of the concentration camps was commemorated at the annual Yom Hashoah commemoration with a March of Remembrance in which over 1,000 people including Holocaust survivors and American liberators participated. Rabbi Hardman was reunited in an emotional private reunion with some of those he liberated. Pictured (left to right): Rabbi Hier; Senator Lugar; Rabbi Hardman; and Rabbi Cooper. |
 "From Xenophobia to Tolerance - Jews and Muslims," the Wiesenthal Center's conference in Paris brought together religious, academic, political and Jewish and Muslim community leaders for discussions that impact on the future of Jews and Muslims. |
1996
 
In response to the Swiss banking scandal, the Center launched a multi-tiered campaign, which included the backing of a pro-bono class action lawsuit against three Swiss banks on behalf of Holocaust victims and their heirs. The Center then obtained a list of frozen World War II bank accounts and posted the information on its website. Finally, the Center compiled a list of 334 names of top Nazi officials, who had the capability of amassing large fortunes, which was sent to government officials around the world. |
 In a report prepared for President Clinton and the United Nations Centre for Human Rights, the Wiesenthal Center documented the use of the Internet by those promoting mayhem, terrorism, and bigotry. |
 The Center played an active role in assisting Defense Department officials to deal with the problem of extremist activity in the military. A team from the Center participated in briefings and members of the Center's National Task Force Against Hate and in special programs at Fort Bragg and Fort Drum. |
 
"TJ" Leyden, an ex neo-Nazi skinhead, came to the Wiesenthal Center after getting out of the white supremacist movement. After providing inside information about his methods and recruitment of young members, he now speaks of his experiences through the Center's National Task Force Against Hate. |
 The Center launched a series of national debates and conferences in search of new strategies and alliances to combat hate in America. The first of these was convened as an outgrowth of a unique dialogue between the Wiesenthal Center and Florida Memorial College, Florida's only historically black college. |
 The "Speak Out Against Intolerance" campaign was launched by the Center in response to the church burnings in the South and other parts of the country. A national hate crimes hotline to provide the public with a toll free number and Internet address to report leads and other pertinent information was also established. |
1997
  The Property and Restitution, A Moral Responsibility to History conference in Geneva, Switzerland dealt with stolen Nazi assets. It addressed the issues of Nazi gold, looted art, and legal strategies to pursue restitution and reparations. The Center officials then met with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Aznar in Madrid and asked him to immediately begin an investigation of Spanish banks and other financial records detailing Spain's cooperation with Nazi Germany during World War II. |
The Center's continued its investigation in the Nazi gold scandal. The names of hundreds of people whose assets were deposited in major Swiss banks during World War II were released which identified the heirs of individuals whose bank accounts were held in Switzerland. Rabbi Hier also testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs after the United States' official report on the Nazi gold scandal was released. |
A Wiesenthal Center delegation met with Spain's Queen Sofia at the Royal Palace in Madrid. Pictured with the Queen (left) are Fela Shapell (right) and Ruth Teichman. In back (left to right): Dr. Shimon Samuels, director of the Center's European office and Leslie Diamond. |
As part of its ongoing national conversation on hate in America, the Center gathered some 250 law enforcement professionals, community activists, and members of the media for its two-day symposium, The Changing Face of Hate and Terrorism. |
TJ Leyden (left), former neo-Nazi skinhead who works with the Center's National Task Force Against Hate, was invited to participate in the White House Conference on Hate Crimes in Washington, D.C. |
 "Racism, Mayhem & Terrorism, The Emergence of an Online Subculture of Hate," a CD-ROM study of hate groups on the Internet, and "The New Lexicon of Hate", a publication which offers law enforcement experts and concerned community leaders insights into the changing language and tactics of hate groups, skinheads and extremist organizations were released. |
1998
 The Center released its report, "The Unwanted Guests: Swiss Forced Labor Camps, 1940-1944", which focused on Switzerland's mistreatment of Jewish refugees during WWII. Also, a formal state hearing with the California Department of Insurance on unpaid insurance claims during WWII was held. |
 Despite the anticipated criticism of Swiss authorities and others, the Center released its second report, "Survey of Nazi and Pro-Nazi Groups in Switzerland" which focused on extremist groups in Switzerland between 1930-1945. |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the Museum of Tolerance with longtime supporters of the Center, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, actor and human rights activist Jon Voight, and Center trustees. |
 At the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Symposium on Terrorism and Hate, experts focused on Hate Groups in America; Anatomy of a Hate Crime; and Hate on the Internet. Pictured at podium is Mark Weitzman, director of the Center's National Task Force Against Hate. |
The Center held a videoconference between Tokyo and the United States as part of a worldwide campaign to encourage Japan to deal with its WWII atrocities. |
Rabbi Hier, along with Undersecretary of State Stuart Eizenstat, New York state officials and other Jewish leaders, testified on Capitol Hill on the recent collapse of negotiations between the Jewish community, the major Swiss banks and the Swiss government. California Senators Tom Hayden (at podium) and Quentin L. Kopp (left) joined at a press briefing in Los Angeles. |
The Center's delegation (pictured above) to the 50th anniversary of Israel's independence commemoration included thirty leaders from the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Israel who met with top Israeli leaders including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. |
 On the occasion of Yom Hashoah and the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel, Clifton Truman Daniel, grandson of President Harry S. Truman, was the featured speaker where he spoke about his grandfather. Pictured rekindling the Memorial Flame are (left to right): Israeli Consul General Yoram Ben Ze'ev; Clifton Daniel; Liebe Geft, Director of the Museum of Tolerance; California Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush; California State Treasurer Matt Fong; and Dr. Shimon Samuels, the Wiesenthal Center's European and Latin American Director. Special recognition for their leadership roles on behalf of restitution for Holocaust victims was given to Mr. Fong and Mr. Quackenbush. |
1999
The Center uncovered documents revealing that the Olympic scandal, which has enveloped the IOC over the past months, was endemic to the culture surrounding the Olympics as far back as the 1936 games in Berlin. This included antisemitic feelings towards Jews. The Center released Digital Hate 2000, an interactive report CD-ROM on over 1,400 problematic web sites on the Internet that promote racial violence, antisemitism, homophobia, and hate music. |
Rabbi Hier delivered the annual State of World Jewry address at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. He raised the issue of the impending canonization of Pius XII, who served as Pope during the Holocaust. |
Following the massacre at Columbine High School, the Center discussed the Museum of Tolerance's educational programs, which can be implemented in schools to combat the growing trend of violence across the U.S. |
Over 200 original photos, documents and original artwork sketched by Simon Wiesenthal are highlighted in the exhibition, "I Am My Brother's Keeper: The Life and Times of Simon Wiesenthal." |
The Center, in conjunction with TDI, re-released its nationwide public service ad campaign. Remembrance, the theme of the campaign, focused on the injustice and devastating effects of intolerance in the history of both the Black and Jewish experience. |
 A Call For Freedom, a symposium convened at the Museum of Tolerance to expose the plight of black slaves today in the Sudan and Mauritania, presented first-person reports from escaped slaves, historians, and redeemers of slaves. |
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