Jerusalem - The Simon Wiesenthal Center today released the full text
of its sixth Annual Status Report on the Worldwide Investigation
and Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals, which covers the period
from April 1, 2006 until March 31, 2007 and awarded grades ranging
from A (highest) to F to evaluate the efforts and results achieved
by more than three dozen countries which were either the site
of Nazi crimes or admitted Holocaust perpetrators after World
War II.
Among the report’s highlights are the following important
developments:
1 |
For the second year
in a row, Austria has received a failing grade which reflects
the ongoing failure of the Austrian judicial authorities to
take successful legal action against local Holocaust perpetrators,
having failed to obtain any convictions or file any indictments
during the period under review. |
2 |
For the second consecutive year,
there was an increase in the number of Nazi war criminals convicted
during the period under review. (This past year the number
rose from 16 to 21.) |
3 |
The continued and consistent success
of the American “Office of Special Investigations” to
denaturalize and deport Nazi war criminals from the United
States. |
4 |
The emergence of Italy as the second
most successful country (after the United States) in the prosecution
of Nazi war criminals. For the second year in a row, the Italians
have succeeded in convicting at least ten Nazi war criminals. |
5 |
The abysmal failure of countries
such as Austria, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Canada,
which have conducted dozens, and in certain cases like Germany,
Austria and Poland, even higher numbers of investigations of
Holocaust perpetrators, to achieve any progress whatsoever
during the period under review. |
“Considering the large number of potential suspects in
Austria, one would expect much better results from the Austrian
judiciary,” said the author of the report, Israel director
Dr. Efraim Zuroff, who coordinates the Center’s research
on Nazi war criminals worldwide. “In this respect, the fact
that "Operation:Last Chance" suspects and Austrian residents
Erna Wallisch and Milivoj Aschner remain unprosecuted, clearly
reflects the distinct lack of political will of the previous government
to take legal action against Austrian Nazi war criminals. We are
hopeful that the current government's decision to contribute to
the financial reward being offered by the German government and
the Wiesenthal Center for the capture of escaped Austrian Nazi
Dr. Aribert Heim is a harbinger of a positive change in Austrian
policy which will yield positive results."
Zuroff noted that the statistics in the report clearly show that
a significant measure of justice can still be achieved against
Nazi war criminals. “Since January 2001, sixty-nine convictions
against Nazi war criminals have been obtained, at least forty-four
new indictments have been filed, and dozens of new investigations
have been initiated. Despite the somewhat prevalent assumption
that it is too late to bring Nazi murderers to justice, the figures
clearly prove otherwise, and it is clear that numerous cases
of such criminals will continue to come to trial during the coming
years. While it is generally assumed that it is the age of the
suspects that is the biggest obstacle to prosecution, in many
cases it is the lack of political will, more than anything else,
that has hindered the efforts to bring Holocaust perpetrators
to justice, along with the mistaken notion that it was impossible
at this point to locate, identify, and convict these criminals.
The success achieved by dedicated prosecution agencies, and especially
by the US Office of Special Investigations, should be a catalyst
for governments all over the world to make a serious effort to
maximize justice while it can still be obtained.”
Zuroff explained that the Report’s purpose was to focus
public attention on the issue and thereby “encourage all
the governments involved to maximize their efforts to ensure that
as many as possible of the unprosecuted Holocaust perpetrators
will be held accountable for their crimes. In that respect, we
seek to highlight both the positive results achieved by countries
like the United States and Italy, as well as the abject failures
of countries like Austria, Germany, Poland and others which have
numerous perpetrators but have failed to bring any of them to justice
during the period under review, as well as Sweden and Norway which
in principle refuse to investigate, let alone prosecute (due to
a statue of limitations), and others who have either chosen to
ignore the issue (Syria) or which have consistently failed to deal
with it effectively primarily due to a lack of the requisite political
will (Lithuania, Latvia and many others).”
Interested journalists can obtain a hard copy of the 2007 report
by writing to [email protected]
INVESTIGATION AND PROSECUTION REPORT CARD
As part of this year’s annual status report, we have given
grades ranging from A (highest) to F which reflect the Wiesenthal
Center’s evaluation of the efforts and results achieved by
various countries during the period under review.
The grades granted are categorized as follows:
Category A: Highly Successful Investigation and Prosecution Program
Those countries, which have adopted a proactive stance on the issue,
have taken all reasonable measures to identify the potential suspected
Nazi war criminals in the country in order to maximize investigation
and prosecution and have achieved notable results during the period
under review.
Category B: Ongoing Investigation and Prosecution Program Which
Has Achieved Practical Success
Those countries which have taken the necessary measures to enable
the proper investigation and prosecution of Nazi war criminals
and have registered at least one conviction and/or filed two indictments
during the period under review.
Category C: Minimal Success That Could Have Been Greater, Additional
Steps Urgently Required
Those countries which have failed to obtain any convictions or
indictments during the period under review but have either advanced
ongoing cases currently in litigation or have opened new investigations,
which have serious potential for prosecution.
Category D: Insufficient and/or Unsuccessful Efforts
Those countries which have ostensibly made at least a minimal effort
to investigate Nazi war criminals but which failed to achieve
any practical results during the period under review. In many
cases these countries have stopped or reduced their efforts to
deal with this issue long before they could have and could achieve
important results if they were to change their policy.
Category E: No known suspects
Those countries in which there are no known suspects and no practical
steps have been taken to uncover new cases.
Category F-1: Failure in principle
Those countries which refuse in principle to investigate, let alone
prosecute, suspected Nazi war criminals because of legal (statute
of limitation) or ideological restrictions.
Category F-2: Failure in practice
Those countries in which there are no legal obstacles to the investigation
and prosecution of suspected Nazi war criminals, but whose efforts
(or lack thereof) have resulted in complete failure during the
period under review, primarily due to the absence of political
will to proceed and/or a lack of the requisite resources and/or
expertise.
Category X: Failure to submit pertinent data
Those countries which did not respond to the questionnaire, but
clearly did not take any action whatsoever to investigate suspected
Nazi war criminals during the period under review.
A: United States
B: Italy
C: Denmark, Hungary, Serbia
D: France, Romania
E: Bosnia, Finland, Russia, Slovakia, Uruguay
F-1: Norway, Sweden, Syria
F-2: Australia, Austria, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Germany, Great
Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine
X: Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Greece, Luxemburg, Netherlands, New
Zealand, Paraguay, Slovenia, Spain, Venezuela.
MOST WANTED NAZI WAR CRIMINALS
As of April 1, 2007
1. Alois Brunner – Syria
Key operative of Adolf Eichmann
Responsible for deportation of Jews from Austria (47,000), Greece
(44,000), France (23,500), and Slovakia (14,000) to Nazi death
camps
Status – living in Syria for decades; Syrian refusal to cooperate stymies
prosecution efforts; convicted in absentia by France
2. Dr. Aribert Heim - ?
Doctor in Sachsenhausen (1940), Buchenwald (1941) and Mauthausen
(1941) concentration camps
Murdered hundreds of camp inmates by lethal injection in Mauthausen
Status – disappeared in 1962 prior to planned prosecution;
current whereabouts unknown but strong evidence that he is still
alive
3. Ivan Demjanjuk – USA
Participated in mass murder of Jews in Sobibor death camp; also
served in Majdanek death camp and Trawniki SS-training camp
Status – denaturalized in USA; ordered deported from USA;
under investigation in Poland
4. Milivoj Ašner – Austria
Police chief of Slavonska Poega, Croatia
Active role in persecution and deportation to death of hundreds
of Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies
Status – discovered in 2004 in framework of “Operation: Last Chance;” indicted
by Croatia which requested his extradition from Austria which has hereto refused
to extradite him
5. Dr. Sandor Kepiro - Hungary
Hungarian gendarmerie officer; participated in mass murder of over
1,200 civilians in Novi Sad, Serbia
Status – discovered in 2006 in framework of “Operation:
Last Chance;” was originally convicted but never punished
in Hungary in 1944 and apparently in absentia in 1946; Hungary
recently refused to implement his original sentence but has opened
a new criminal investigation against him
6. Mikhail Gorshkow – Estonia
Participated in murder of Jews in Belarus
Status: denaturalized in USA, under investigation in Estonia
7. Erna Wallisch – Austria
Guard at Majdanek death camp; admitted role in mass murder
Status – Austria refuses to prosecute due to statute of limitations;
under investigation in Poland
8. Soeren Kam - Germany
Participated in the murder of anti-nazi Danish newspaper editor Carl Henrik
Clemmensen; stole the population registry of the Danish Jewish ommunity to
facilitate the roundup and subsequent deportation of Danish Jews to Nazi
concentration camps, where dozens were murdered.
Status – Kam was indicted in Denmark for the murder of Clemmensen, but
a German court refused to approve his extradition to stand trial in Copenhagen.
The Danish judicial authorities have recently launched an investigation of
his role in the deportation of the Jews at the request of the Wiesenthal Center.
9. Karoly (Charles) Zentai – Australia
Participated in manhunts, persecution, and murder of Jews in Budapest
in 1944
Status – discovered in 2004 by “Operation: Last Chance;” Hungary
has issued an international arrest warrant against him and has asked for his
extradition from Australia; Zentai is currently appealing his extradition to
Hungary
10a. Algimantas Dailide – Germany
Arrested Jews murdered by Nazis and Lithuanian collaborators
Status: deported from USA; convicted by Lithuania, which has hereto
refused to implement his sentence of imprisonment
10b. Harry Mannil – Venezuela
Arrested Jews and Communists executed by Nazis and Estonian collaborators
Status: cleared by investigation in Estonia; barred from entry
to US
For more information call our office:
972-2-563-1273 or in Israel:
02-563-1273
Or: 972-50-721-4156 or in Israel: 050-721-4156
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