GREENVILLE -- For 30 years, Efraim Zuroff has been on a quest to bring Nazi war criminals to justice.

Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel, discussed his work Tuesday at the Temple of Israel.

The vast majority of people who packed the room to hear his lecture have only read or heard stories about the Nazis and concentration camps that Zuroff mentioned.

There was, however, a Spartanburg couple in attendance that experienced the horrors first hand.

Sandor and Livia Koser are Holocaust survivors.

Sandor was 14 years old when he was taken to Auschwitz. He was soon transported to Buchenwald concentration camp.

Livia was 13 when she was taken to Auschwitz. There she personally encountered the so-called "Angel of Death," Josef Mengele, the SS doctor who performed medical experiments on prisoners at Auschwitz.

Dr. Andras Koser, son of Sandor and Livia, said Mengele was making selections when Koser's mother and grandmother stepped before him.

"(Mengele) decided to send my mother in one lane and (my) grandmother in another lane," Koser said.

Livia and her mother were uncertain why they were separated or directed into separate lanes.

Koser said his grandmother somehow found the courage to approach Mengele and told him that no matter what happened she wanted to be with her daughter.

"He has a stick like a conductor and he just waved that and the guard opened some gate and grandmother was able to go and get my mom," Koser said. His grandmother also got another little girl from their village.

Zuroff told the crowd that investigators searching for Mengele in the mid-1980s examined the office of the Mengele family's attorney and discovered "a very extensive correspondence between Josef Mengele in South America and his family in Germany."

The Nazi war criminal was living under an assumed name when he suffered a heart attack in 1979, Zuroff said. Zuroff urged the crowd to imagine if Mengele had been brought to justice before his death.

He thinks "they blew it because of the major problem that we continue to face to this very day -- lack of political will," Zuroff told the crowd.

"Most people think that for people like me, the biggest problem is finding Nazis or at least finding the evidence against Nazis. But that's not the case. The biggest problem we face is that countries who know that they should put these people on trial are not willing to do so," Zuroff said.

He said countries may be unwilling to do so because of the expense or negative publicity.

Nazi war criminals also are well advanced in years and "not about to strike again," he said in an interview before his lecture.

"They know that all they have to do is wait it out ... if they wait it out, the people will die."

Zuroff wrote about his work in his book titled "Operation Last Chance: One Man's Quest to Bring Nazi Criminals to Justice."

Zuroff considers seeing Dinko Sakic brought to justice "one of his greatest successes."

Sakic was commander of Jasenovac, the largest World War II concentration camp in Croatia, known as the "Auschwitz of the Balkans."

Sakic was sentenced to 20 years for crimes against humanity. He reportedly died in 2008.

Zuroff said he's been actively involved in about 30 cases. He's also assisted other cases, including a few in the United States in which Lithuanians were stripped of their American citizenship and deported. Zuroff said he put pressure on the Lithuanian government to prosecute them.

Last Chance
Operation: Last Chance was established in 2002 to track down and apprehend unknown Nazi war criminals. It's a "campaign to bring remaining Nazi war criminals to justice by offering financial rewards for information leading to their arrest and conviction. To date the initiative has been launched in Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Austria, Croatia and Hungary," according to the campaign's website.

Operation: Last Chance holds news conferences and advertises for information about Nazis. Zuroff frequently receives tips. Establishing credibility is the first step in an investigation. Someone responded to an ad with information about a woman accused of being a guard at a concentration camp. Zuroff said he was able to establish she worked at the camp and had never been prosecuted for her crimes.

"We did what we call a pretext call. In other words, we call up asking if she wants to buy a refrigerator or something like that or does she need any additional insurance," Zuroff told the crowd.

The suspect's voice can indicate if they're healthy.

Zuroff told the crowd that the suspect died 10 days after her case was reopened in January 2008.

As a Nazi hunter, Zuroff uses detective skills to find perpetrators. He also collects evidence and tries to "influence the governments to do the right thing" and "prosecute these people because many of the governments don't want to do this."

"I'm one-third detective, one-third historian and one-third political lobbyist," he said.

Zuroff recounted the time he was approached by a man following Sakic's trial. The man identified himself as the brother of a man Sakic murdered in the concentration camp.

The man thanked Zuroff and told him that without Zuroff the trial would never have happened. It was a rewarding moment for Zuroff.

The Kosers also suffered great losses in the Holocaust. Sandor's mother and seven cousins were killed. Two of his sisters did survive.

"My mother's mother did survive; she was the reason why my mother survived at that young age. Grandmother protected her any way she could," Andras wrote in an e-mail.

She did lose her father and brother.

After Zuroff's lecture, Livia lifted her arm to reveal faded numbers tattooed into her arm at Auschwitz. The Kosers recently visited Buchenwald. It has been 65 years since Sandor was liberated.

Andras said the foundations of the barracks remain. The crematorium is still there.

And the memories are still very much alive.

Each time his father returns to Buchenwald is "very difficult."

It has grown more difficult, not less, with time. Andras said they talk more about it.

Zuroff told the crowd he is sometimes confronted with skepticism and opposition.

Some may question hunting down perpetrators who committed their crimes decades ago and are now well advanced in years.

"The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the killers. If someone committed a crime in 1941 (and) was never brought to justice, they're just as guilty today," Zuroff said.

"Every single person murdered by the Nazis deserves that a very serious effort be made to try and find those human beings who turned innocent men, women and children into victims."

The program featuring Zuroff was sponsored by the Greenville Jewish Federation and Chabad of the Upstate.

Zuroff told the crowd that investigators searching for Mengele in the mid-1980s examined the office of the Mengele family's attorney and discovered "a very extensive correspondence between Josef Mengele in South America and his family in Germany."

The Nazi war criminal was living under an assumed name when he suffered a heart attack in 1979, Zuroff said. Zuroff urged the crowd to imagine if Mengele had been brought to justice before his death.

He thinks "they blew it because of the major problem that we continue to face to this very day -- lack of political will," Zuroff told the crowd.

"Most people think that for people like me, the biggest problem is finding Nazis or at least finding the evidence against Nazis. But that's not the case. The biggest problem we face is that countries who know that they should put these people on trial are not willing to do so," Zuroff said.

He said countries may be unwilling to do so because of the expense or negative publicity.

Nazi war criminals also are well advanced in years and "not about to strike again," he said in an interview before his lecture.

"They know that all they have to do is wait it out ... if they wait it out, the people will die."

Zuroff wrote about his work in his book titled "Operation Last Chance: One Man's Quest to Bring Nazi Criminals to Justice."

Zuroff considers seeing Dinko Sakic brought to justice "one of his greatest successes."

Sakic was commander of Jasenovac, the largest World War II concentration camp in Croatia, known as the "Auschwitz of the Balkans."

Sakic was sentenced to 20 years for crimes against humanity. He reportedly died in 2008.

Zuroff said he's been actively involved in about 30 cases. He's also assisted other cases, including a few in the United States in which Lithuanians were stripped of their American citizenship and deported. Zuroff said he put pressure on the Lithuanian government to prosecute them.

Last Chance
Operation: Last Chance was established in 2002 to track down and apprehend unknown Nazi war criminals. It's a "campaign to bring remaining Nazi war criminals to justice by offering financial rewards for information leading to their arrest and conviction. To date the initiative has been launched in Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, Austria, Croatia and Hungary," according to the campaign's website.

Operation: Last Chance holds news conferences and advertises for information about Nazis. Zuroff frequently receives tips. Establishing credibility is the first step in an investigation. Someone responded to an ad with information about a woman accused of being a guard at a concentration camp. Zuroff said he was able to establish she worked at the camp and had never been prosecuted for her crimes.

"We did what we call a pretext call. In other words, we call up asking if she wants to buy a refrigerator or something like that or does she need any additional insurance," Zuroff told the crowd.

The suspect's voice can indicate if they're healthy.

Zuroff told the crowd that the suspect died 10 days after her case was reopened in January 2008.

As a Nazi hunter, Zuroff uses detective skills to find perpetrators. He also collects evidence and tries to "influence the governments to do the right thing" and "prosecute these people because many of the governments don't want to do this."

"I'm one-third detective, one-third historian and one-third political lobbyist," he said.

Zuroff recounted the time he was approached by a man following Sakic's trial. The man identified himself as the brother of a man Sakic murdered in the concentration camp.

The man thanked Zuroff and told him that without Zuroff the trial would never have happened. It was a rewarding moment for Zuroff.

The Kosers also suffered great losses in the Holocaust. Sandor's mother and seven cousins were killed. Two of his sisters did survive.

"My mother's mother did survive; she was the reason why my mother survived at that young age. Grandmother protected her any way she could," Andras wrote in an e-mail.

She did lose her father and brother.

After Zuroff's lecture, Livia lifted her arm to reveal faded numbers tattooed into her arm at Auschwitz. The Kosers recently visited Buchenwald. It has been 65 years since Sandor was liberated.

Andras said the foundations of the barracks remain. The crematorium is still there.

And the memories are still very much alive.

Each time his father returns to Buchenwald is "very difficult."

It has grown more difficult, not less, with time. Andras said they talk more about it.

Zuroff told the crowd he is sometimes confronted with skepticism and opposition.

Some may question hunting down perpetrators who committed their crimes decades ago and are now well advanced in years.

"The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the killers. If someone committed a crime in 1941 (and) was never brought to justice, they're just as guilty today," Zuroff said.

"Every single person murdered by the Nazis deserves that a very serious effort be made to try and find those human beings who turned innocent men, women and children into victims."

The program featuring Zuroff was sponsored by the Greenville Jewish Federation and Chabad of the Upstate.

Zuroff recounted the time he was approached by a man following Sakic's trial. The man identified himself as the brother of a man Sakic murdered in the concentration camp.

The man thanked Zuroff and told him that without Zuroff the trial would never have happened. It was a rewarding moment for Zuroff.

The Kosers also suffered great losses in the Holocaust. Sandor's mother and seven cousins were killed. Two of his sisters did survive.

"My mother's mother did survive; she was the reason why my mother survived at that young age. Grandmother protected her any way she could," Andras wrote in an e-mail.

She did lose her father and brother.

After Zuroff's lecture, Livia lifted her arm to reveal faded numbers tattooed into her arm at Auschwitz. The Kosers recently visited Buchenwald. It has been 65 years since Sandor was liberated.

Andras said the foundations of the barracks remain. The crematorium is still there.

And the memories are still very much alive.

Each time his father returns to Buchenwald is "very difficult."

It has grown more difficult, not less, with time. Andras said they talk more about it.

Zuroff told the crowd he is sometimes confronted with skepticism and opposition.

Some may question hunting down perpetrators who committed their crimes decades ago and are now well advanced in years.

"The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the killers. If someone committed a crime in 1941 (and) was never brought to justice, they're just as guilty today," Zuroff said.

"Every single person murdered by the Nazis deserves that a very serious effort be made to try and find those human beings who turned innocent men, women and children into victims."

The program featuring Zuroff was sponsored by the Greenville Jewish Federation and Chabad of the Upstate.

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