Scienceאפרים זורוף

Efraim Zuroff

Efraim Zuroff is an American-born Israeli historian and Nazi hunter who directed the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem.

born 1948Hunting Nazi war criminalsOperation Last ChanceThe Dinko Šakić caseSimon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem

Born: 5 August 1948, New York City
Occupation: Nazis hunter, historian of Modern Age, historian of the Holocaust, university teacher
Education: Yeshiva University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yeshivah of Flatbush

Efraim Zuroff was born in 1948 in New York City

Efraim Zuroff was born in New York City on August 5, 1948. He was named after an uncle of his mother who was murdered in the Holocaust. He earned a bachelor's degree in history at Yeshiva University.

He moved to Israel in 1970 and studied at the Hebrew University's Institute of Contemporary Jewry. He earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Holocaust studies. His doctorate dealt with the response of American Orthodox Jews to the Holocaust and the rescue work of the Vaad ha-Hatzala.

In 1978 he became the first director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles and helped build its library and archives. From 1980 he worked in Israel as a researcher for the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations. He rejoined the Wiesenthal Center in 1986 and coordinated its worldwide search for Nazi war criminals.

His work helped lead to the arrest and trial of Dinko Šakić, who was sentenced in Croatia in 1999 to 20 years in prison. In 2002 he launched Operation Last Chance, which offers rewards for information on Nazi war criminals. He also wrote books on the hunt for these criminals.

In September 2024 he announced that he would leave the Simon Wiesenthal Center after 38 years.