The man set to continue Simon Wiesenthal’s work is Efraim Zuroff, a 56-year-old New Yorker of Jewish descent who now runs the Wiesenthal centre in Jerusalem. With Zuroff at the helm, the Wiesenthal centre will never be out of the headlines. He already believes he is on the verge of a breakthrough, closing in on a Nazi who eluded his predecessor. Before his illness and death, Wiesenthal was working on the case of Aribert Heim, the most wanted Nazi on the run.

The notorious doctor of the concentration camps, Heim is regarded as one of the second world war’s most sadistic criminals. Now 91, he has reportedly been spotted in South America, Egypt, Spain and Germany. New evidence emerging, such as recent bank records, suggests that he is still alive and living in Spain.

Together with German investigators, Zuroff’s researchers have recently gained access to Heim’s bank accounts in Berlin. These contain €1m (£680,000) and other assets.

They believe the fact that none of Heim’s three children has claimed any of the money suggests that he is probably still alive. Records show that as recently as 2001, Heim asked the German tax authorities to pay back capital gains tax levied on him because he was living abroad.