Simon Wiesenthal has helped Jewish communities in the UK

The 94-year-old was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, on the advice of Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

He was commended for his service to the Jewish communities in the UK and elsewhere "by helping to right at least some of the wrongs of the Holocaust".

He was said to be grateful that Mr Straw had honoured his work.

Mr Wiesenthal is credited for bringing several high-profile members of the Nazi leadership to justice.

Mr Straw said he was being honoured for helping "the many members of the Austrian, German and Central European Jewish communities who have made their postwar homes in Britain, through his work to bring the Nazi perpetrators of the Holocaust to justice".

We are greatly honoured that Simon Wiesenthal is being knighted by Her Majesty the Queen Rabbi Marvin Hier Simon Wiesenthal Center

"If there is one name which symbolises this vital coming to terms with the past it is Simon Wiesenthal's," Mr Straw said on Thursday.

"In making this award, we also have in mind the work of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in preserving the memory of the Holocaust and fostering tolerance and understanding, ideals that are more relevant than ever in the present day."

Mr Wiesenthal founded the Simon Wiesenthal Center in 1977, as an international Jewish human rights organisation dedicated to preserving the memory of the Holocaust by fostering tolerance and understanding.

The centre has helped Jews in Britain to pursue restitution claims.

Greatly honoured

The main body of Mr Wiesenthal's work is focused on the countries where concentration camps were set up and on those to which perpetrators escaped.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said: "We are greatly honoured that Simon Wiesenthal is being knighted by Her Majesty the Queen.

"We are also grateful to the foreign secretary for noting the work of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its Museum of Tolerance."

Mr Wiesenthal will receive the award at a later date from the British ambassador in Vienna, the foreign office said.

The KBE is conferred by the Queen on foreign nationals who have made an important contribution to British interests.

They are made throughout the year and are quite distinct from the New Year and Birthday Honours Lists.