Simon Wiesenthal Center For Holocaust Studies

Officials of the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies have turned over to Venezuelan authorities in Miami the names of three suspected Nazi war criminals believed to be living in the South American country. Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Los Angeles-based center, said one was a member of a Lithuanian murder squad, another is also accused of involvement in the murder of Jews in Lithuania and the third worked for an anti-Semitic newspaper in Latvia.

A Los Angeles businessman has donated $40 million for a peace and tolerance institute being built by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem. The Winnick Institute Jerusalem, named for telecommunications entrepreneur Gary Winnick, is projected to cost $120 million and will be designed for a three-acre hillside site by Los Angeles architect Frank O. Gehry.

A federal appeals court Friday ruled that a man who claimed that the Holocaust never occurred could sue Jewish organizations and the city of Los Angeles for allegedly preventing him from speaking at a library conference. The decision of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals--which brought passionate dissents from four of its 28 judges--reaffirms a November ruling from a three-judge panel that allowed the lawsuit, filed by the late David McCalden, to proceed.

In biting remarks certain to escalate tensions between the Roman Catholic Church and Jewish leaders, the head of Los Angeles' Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced moves by Catholic leaders toward making Pope Pius XII a saint. Pius XII, whose papacy overlapped World War II, "sat on the throne of St. Peter in stony silence, without ever lifting a finger, as each day thousands of Jews from all over Europe were sent to the gas chambers, with his full knowledge," Rabbi Marvin J.

The head of West Germany and a Los Angeles rabbi have engaged in an unusual debate by mail about how to allay fears among Jews and others over the possibility that fascism could resurface in a united Germany. The exchange last month between West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder-dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, highlighted a grass-roots concern that has been largely ignored in the public discussions of political leaders.

The associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a largely Jewish human rights organization based in Los Angeles, called Friday on four national record chains to stop selling copies of rapper Ice Cube's new album, "Death Certificate."

It's not surprising that Madonna is in the middle of another controversy. But who would have ever thought she'd get into trouble for reading the Bible? A new version of the pop music vamp's top-selling single "Justify My Love"--called "The Beast Within Mix"--is being targeted by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for containing an allegedly anti-Semitic New Testament passage.

The generation gap was narrowed to about three feet Tuesday as the public was allowed for the first time inside the $50-million Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. That was the distance between Holocaust survivor Lisa Neuman and high school senior Babak Eghbalieh as they stood before a computerized, wall-sized map showing the locations of about 250 hate groups in the United States.

An Orange County cable-TV company has pulled a series of programs produced by a neo-Nazi apologist who claims the Holocaust was a hoax, but another local cable system will continue to broadcast them.

Jews turned to a Catholic priest Thursday for help in remembering the horror of the Holocaust. A ceremony at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in West Los Angeles paid homage to 6 million Jews killed in World War II by honoring Father Josef Gorajek--a Polish village priest who saved dozens of Jews from Nazi invaders by hiding them in his parish. The event was part of an international Holocaust Day remembrance.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is scheduled to release a report today that shows a sharp rise in the number of Internet sites that promote racial violence, anti-Semitism and other categories of hate speech. The report lists the addresses of 1,426 sites, more than double the number documented in the center's initial study in December 1997. The report, compiled by researchers at Jewish human rights organization, is designed primarily as a tool for law enforcement and educators.

Perhaps without even meaning to, the Simon Wiesenthal Center showed computer technology at its best and its worst during its conference on the Internet. Using a flawless videoconference link from Washington, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center's associate dean, served as master of ceremonies for the event at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. At the same time, another videoconference link brought together educators from Connecticut, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey and Washington.

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center defended its latest Holocaust report Sunday after a backlash by the Swiss government and even by the famed Nazi-hunter for whom the center is named. "We are not backing down. This is not a report about the Swiss people of 1942 or the Swiss government or people of today," Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Wiesenthal Center, said Sunday. Hier said historian Alan Morris Schom's report was a survey of extremist groups.

Authors of a controversial report accusing the Swiss government of aiding Nazi Germany during World War II defended themselves Wednesday against accusations that the conclusions were unproved. The report, based largely on documents from German and Swiss archives, was criticized by Swiss President Flavio Cotti as "untenable and perfidious" and an insult to "an entire generation."

Switzerland's justice minister met clandestinely during World War II with leaders of a Swiss anti-Semitic group, promising to stop most Jews fleeing the Holocaust from entering the country but warning that the policy had to be kept secret, according to documents contained in a report to be released today.

A news flash breaks on the TV in a crowded diner. Familiar images flicker across the screen: Yellow police tape cordoning off a smashed car. A shellshocked mother staring wildly at the scene, trying to absorb the news. Her teenage son, driving home drunk after the prom, has crashed into another car and been killed. "Every parent's worst nightmare," the television anchor solemnly intones. But this isn't the nightly news.

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center released the names of what it called the 10 most wanted war criminals on the U.N. War Crimes Commission's list Tuesday and urged the opening of U.N. files detailing their crimes. Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the center, said his organization has obtained the commission's list of 38,000 names in 12,000 files, compiled in the 1940s and never made public.

Jonathan Dolgen wanted Bob Dylan. Jonathan Dolgen got Bob Dylan. Dolgen, chairman of Viacom Entertainment Group, received the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Humanitarian Award on Wednesday at the Beverly Hilton with Bob Dylan as the headline entertainment. "I love Dylan," Dolgen said. "He's one of the great American cultural influences since the war. He's the poet of my generation without question."

Even among his fellow skinheads, Tom Leyden stood out as an angry warrior. Leyden recalls prowling the streets of Redlands at night, pummeling "blacks, Hispanics and longhairs" with his steel-toed boots. In the Marines, he kept a copy of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" next to his bunk. At home, he hung a Nazi flag over the baby's crib. Leyden, 30, might seem like a dubious candidate to lead a crusade against white supremacists.