BERLIN - The Simon Wiesenthal Center is urging Germany's Federal Intelligence Service to release all files on Nazi war criminals following a recent report the agency knew Adolf Eichmann was hiding in Buenos Aires as early as 1952.

The centre's top Nazi-hunter, Efraim Zuroff, said Monday Germany is now good about attempting to bring Nazi criminals to justice but the report shows the "utter indifference of the German authorities at that time." He says the files could contribute to important historical research.

In an ongoing court case, the intelligence agency has turned over thousands of files on Eichmann — known as the "architect of the Holocaust" for co-ordinating the Nazi genocide policy — to a reporter who sued for them, but with many passages blacked out.

The agency refuses to comment while the matter is in court.

brandonsun.com