JERUSALEM Renowned Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal worked for Israels Mossad spy agency, providing information on war criminals and Germans working in Arab countries, according to a new book released Thursday.
The assertions in "Wiesenthal - The Life and Legends" shed a different light on the Holocaust survivor previously believed to have conducted a lone quest to bring war criminals to justice.
"It is quite surprising in the context of his own story, because he was always regarded as a loner, someone who does everything alone against all odds and against local law enforcement," the books author, Israeli historian Tom Segev, said.
Efraim Zuroff, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, said it was the first time the Mossad connection had surfaced. He said he was surprised by Segevs findings, but that he had no reason to doubt them.
In the book, Segev writes that the famed Nazi hunter worked with Israeli agents even before the establishment of the Mossad in 1949. In December 1948, Wiesenthal helped a forerunner of the agency mount a failed attempt to capture top Nazi Adolf Eichmann, who was later nabbed by Israeli agents in Argentina and executed after a trial in Israel.
Wiesenthal continued to provide intelligence to Israel through the 1950s, but his steady relationship with the Mossad only began in the run-up to the 1960 operation to capture Eichmann, Segev said.
Until 1970, Wiesenthal operated under the code name "Theocrat," providing Israeli intelligence information on suspected war criminals, neo-Nazi groups that threatened Jewish communities in Europe and German scientists working for Egypts rocket program.
The Mossad helped Wiesenthal open his office in Vienna and put him on the payroll with a monthly retainer of some $300, Segev said.
Segev was given first-time access to Wiesenthals office and personal archive. He then followed the paper trail to track down and interview three of his former Mossad handlers.
Wiesenthal, who died in Vienna in 2005, survived the Nazi death camps and spent the rest of his life documenting the Holocaust, helping refugees and pursuing Nazi war criminals, often with little cooperation from authorities in the countries that served as a haven for the wanted men.
Kurt Schrimm, the head of the special German prosecutors office responsible for investigating Nazi-era crimes, said the alleged link to Israeli intelligence shouldnt have any impact on the significance of the Wiesenthals legacy.
"I dont know if it is actually true, but I dont see that it would have any relevance to his work whether he was a member of the Mossad or not," Schrimm said.
The book also provides fresh insight on the famed Israeli intelligence agency, indicating that the Mossad did more than previously thought to track down former Nazi officials.
Until Eichmanns capture, Israel was believed to have focused more on present and future threats, but "Wiesenthals connection requires that we adjust that notion, at least in part," Segev said.
The Mossad did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
"Wiesenthal - The Live and Legends" was released in six countries, including an English translation in the United States and Britain.
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