Budapest - The
Simon Wiesenthal Center today publicly urged the Hungarian
government to immediately arrest Dr. Sandor Képiró,
who has already been twice convicted in Hungarian courts
for crimes committed during World War II but was never punished
for his crimes. He was recently discovered living in Budapest
in the framework of the Center’s “Operation:
Last Chance” project.
In a press conference held in Budapest today, the Center’s
chief Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff revealed that Képiró,
who was convicted in 1944 (in person) and again in 1946 (in
absentia) for his role in the murder of approximately 1,000
civilians in the city of Novi Sad (Ujvidek – in Hungarian)
on January 21-23, 1942, has been living undisturbed in the
Hungarian capital for a decade, following almost half a century
in hiding in Argentina.
According to Zuroff:
“Dr. Sandor Képiró is the most prominent
unpunished Hungarian war criminal still alive today. Given
the fact that he was already convicted twice for his crimes – and
given his prominent role in carrying out the mass murders
of January 1942 in Novi Sad – we call for his immediate
arrest and incarceration. According to his 1944 verdict,
Képiró demanded “orders in writing” when
instructed to round up Jews, Serbs and Gypsies to be killed
in Novi Sad, but carried out the assignment anyway when told
that such order could only be relayed verbally. People like
Képiró are the moral monsters who were fully
aware of the illegality and immorality of the orders they
received but carried them out regardless.”
For more information call:
from Israel: 050-7214156 from abroad: 00-972-50-7214156
www.operationlastchance.org www.wiesenthal.com
Sandor Képiró
Sandor Képiró [hereafter – SK] served
as a captain in the Hungarian gendarmerie in the Voivodina
[in Hungarian – Délvidék] region of Yugoslavia,
which was annexed by Hungary in December 1941.
In January 1942, the Hungarian gendarmerie and army carried
out a series of mass executions throughout Voivodina, one
of the largest of which took place in the city of Novi-Sad
[in Hungarian – Újvidék] on January 21 – 23,
1942. In the course of those three days, the Hungarian gendarmerie
and army, one of whose units was commanded by SK, murdered
approximately 880 to 1,050 men, women, and children.
According to a description of the murders by historian Randolph
Braham:
“By far the most savage atrocities took place at the
Danube beach, the so-called Štrand. Force-marched or
brought in by trucks from the various parts of the city,
the victims were ordered to strip and stand in rows of four
to await their execution. Most of these unfortunate people
were shot from the spring-board into the Danube, whose ice
was broken by cannon fire. According to eyewitness accounts,
many of the victims, including children, begged to be killed
because the ‘cold was unbearable.’”
After details of the massacres in the region were revealed
(over 3,300 civilians murdered, almost all Serbs and Jews),
hearings were held in Hungary in both houses of parliament
and three investigations were conducted. On the basis of
the last inquiry, the fifteen leading officers involved in
the atrocities (3 from the army and 12 from the gendarmerie)
among them SK, were brought to trial and convicted, and sentenced
to lengthy prison terms. SK was sentenced to ten years imprisonment.
After the Nazi invasion of Hungary, however, the officers
were cleared by a Nazi-dominated military tribunal which
acquitted them and restored their ranks. They were also reinstated
in the military and gendarmerie. SK became the highest-ranking
gendarmerie officer in Novi Sad [Újvidék] and
participated in the deportation of Jews to Auschwitz.
After the war, SK escaped to Austria, where he lived for
about three years. He was there while he was again put on
trial-this time in absentia in 1946-and was sentenced to
fourteen years in prison. In 1948, he moved to Argentina,
where he lived for almost half a century. In 1996, he returned
to Hungary and presently resides in Budapest. His current
whereabouts were discovered in the course of an investigation
of a fellow gendarmerie member who was exposed in the framework
of the Wiesenthal Center’s “Operation: Last Chance” project.
Date of birth: February 18, 1914
Current residence: Budapest
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