The Simon Wiesenthal Center released on Sunday
the findings of its 12th annual report on the investigation and
prosecution of Nazi criminals around the world.
In the report, the SWC added two names to its
list of most wanted Nazis, SS-Death’s Head division camp guards Hans
(Antanas) Lipschis and Theodor Szehinskyj, both of whom escaped to the
United States after World War II.
The list comprises 10 people and the two
additions replace Dutch-German Nazi criminal Klaas Faber, who died in
Germany last year before he could be incarcerated for his crimes, and
Karoly (Charles) Zentai, whose extradition to Hungary to stand trial for
murder was blocked by the Australian authorities. The Wiesenthal Center
called the Zentai case the “most disappointing result” of the period
under review.
The SWC also routinely awards
grades, ranging between A (highest) and F, to countries’ efforts and
results in finding and prosecuting Nazis who had either committed crimes
on their soil or had been admitted by these countries after the
Holocaust.
The report covers the period between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2013.
The country with the highest mark was the
Unites States, with Canada, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Serbia receiving
a B grade. Norway, Sweden and Syria were classed in the F-1 category
reserved for countries “which refuse in principle to investigate, let
alone prosecute, suspected Nazi war criminals because of legal (statute
of limitation) or ideological restrictions.”
Australia, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
and Ukraine received an F-2 mark, for “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.”
SWC director Efraim Zuroff noted that
countries in Eastern Europe, and the Baltic states in particular, remain
uncommitted to punishing suspected perpetrators.
“The lack of political will to bring Nazis war
criminals to justice and/or to punish them continues to be the major
obstacle to achieving justice, particularly in post-Communist Eastern
Europe. The campaign led by the Baltic countries to distort the history
of the Holocaust and obtain official recognition that the crimes of the
Communists are equal to those of the Nazis is another major obstacle to
the prosecution of those responsible for the crimes of the Shoah,” said
Zuroff.
According to Zuroff, who is also the author of
the report, the purpose was to “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.”
Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil,
Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Luxemburg, Paraguay, Russia, Slovenia, and
Uruguay all received an X mark representing those countries that failed
to provide pertinent data and “did not take any action whatsoever to
investigate suspected Nazi war criminals during the period under
review.”
The most positive development, according to
the report, was “the indictment in Hungary in July 2012 of former Kosice
(in Hungarian- occupied Slovakia) ghetto commander Laszlo Csatary for
his role in the mass deportation of approximately 15,700 Jews to the
Auschwitz death camp in the spring of 1944. On July 17, 2012, he was
indicted, placed under house arrest, and had his passport confiscated,
as he awaits possible criminal prosecution.”
1 comMENTS:
Surely these Narnseys Simon has been tracking all round the world would all be in their 90' or even 100's.
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