Nazi concentration camp survivor who dedicated his life to tracking down and prosecuting former Nazis who had persecuted Jews during World War II. He made worldwide headlines in 1961 for the capture of notorious Nazi fugitive Adolf Eichmann. ALS in German, four pages in pencil (signed in ink), 8.5 x 11, no date [circa 1993]. An interesting letter outlining Wiesenthal’s plans to write an article defending director Steven Spielberg against criticism related to the film Schindler’s List. In part (translated): “The things that the director of Shoah, Claude Lanzmann, wrote about Spielberg’s movie Schindler’s List are unacceptable for several reasons. Lanzmann ... tells how two survivors from Wilna have told him how they have been forced to dig a mass grave ... and they had to do it with wet hands. Spielberg has recreated such a scene in Schindler’s List in the camp Plaszow, where it didn’t happen. What has really happened? Did Spielberg steal the scene from Shoah?... For Lanzmann the movie is a ‘fiction.’ A movie he describes as ‘not to be taken seriously.’ The question is if the Holocaust can be shown in a movie anyway. Lanzmann went a different way, but there is no universally valid prohibition to show the tragedy of the Jews in a movie.” The letter is written on the reverse of a printed multipage itinerary for a trip by Wiesenthal to New York in 1990; his schedule included book signings and television appearances on Good Morning America and Larry King Live. Accompanied by a translation from the consignor. In fine condition, with folds and filing holes at right margins. R&R COA.
