Wiesenthal Center's Chief Nazi-Hunter, Israel Director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, Awarded Honorary Citizenship of Serbian City of Novi Sad

January 19, 2009

 

WIESENTHAL CENTER'S CHIEF NAZI-HUNTER, ISRAEL DIRECTOR DR. EFRAIM ZUROFF, AWARDED HONORARY CITIZENSHIP OF SERBIAN CITY OF NOVI SAD

 

Novi Sad/Jerusalem/Los Angeles- The Simon Wiesenthal Center has announced that its chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, was today awarded the honorary citizenship of Novi Sad, Serbia by  Mayor Igor Pavlićić in a ceremony held tonight at the local City Hall. In his remarks, Mayor Pavlićić noted Zuroff's tireless efforts to bring Nazi war criminals to justice all over the world and in particular, his role in exposing former Hungarian gendarmerie officer Dr. Sandor Kepiro, who participated in organizing the large-scale massacre of Jews, Serbs, and Gypsies in Novi Sad on January 23, 1942.

 

The leadership of the Wiesenthal Center welcomed the honor bestowed upon Zuroff and noted its particular significance these days, when the memory of the Holocaust and the victims of Nazism has been under such heavy attack by those seeking to besmirch the State of Israel.

 

According to Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper: 

"By honoring Dr. Zuroff, the city of Novi Sad also honors the late Simon Wiesenthal for his relentless pursuit of justice, as well as the memory of all victims of Nazism whose martyrdom is today so readily and cynically abused by the enemies of the Jewish state."

 

Click here to find the text of Dr. Zuroff's remarks at the ceremony. Dr. Zuroff is the eleventh person to receive honorary citizenship of Novi Sad. Among the others are Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, inventor Nikola Tesla, composer Mikis Theodarakis and tennis star Monika Seles.

 

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