Alois Brunner - then and now
Posted on 12/29/2005 5:19:45 PM PST by wagglebee
Alois Brunner - then and now
An international manhunt is underway for the most wanted Nazi war criminal, Alois Brunner, Adolf Eichmann's top aide, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Israel Police sources said the manhunt was focused on Brazil, where authorities believed Brunner might have recently entered to hide.
Despite recent media reports that a Brazilian investigation was closed four months ago, Israel Police sources confirmed to the Post that police in Brazil and other South American countries were in the midst of a concentrated investigation after receiving intelligence information that Brunner may be hiding in Brazil. The officers said there was a "good chance" the Austrian-born Brunner was alive and in South America.
"There is an ongoing investigation, not only in Brazil but also in other South American countries," Dep.-Cmdr. Asher Ben-Artzi, the head of Israel's Interpol and Foreign Liaison Section, told the Post. "If you ask me, there is a good chance that Brunner is really hiding in Brazil."
At the beginning of the month, Ha'aretz reported that Brazilian police suspected that a man traveling under the name Alois Brunner was the Nazi war criminal, despite his claims that he was Swiss and more than 20 years younger than the real Brunner who, if alive today, would be 95.
The day after the report was published, Swiss police tracked down an Alois Brunner in Lucerne and confirmed that he was not the wanted Nazi war criminal, Ben-Artzi said.
"It turns out that the name Alois Brunner is a common name, kind of like Avraham Cohen in Israel," he said. "In addition, the man in Switzerland is much younger and, unlike the real Brunner, he has all his fingers and both eyes."
A deputy to Eichmann, Brunner assisted in implementing the Final Solution and is held directly responsible for the deaths of at least 130,000 Jews. He is believed to have spent the last 40 years hiding in Syria under the assumed name of Dr. Georg Fischer.
Ben-Artzi said Israel's police representative in South America was in constant touch with Brazilian police and was keeping tabs on the investigation, which he said was of extreme interest to Israel. The Brazilians were searching for a different man, not the one from Switzerland, who they suspected might be Brunner, he said.
If caught, Brunner would be extradited to France where he was sentenced in absentia in 2001 to life in prison on charges of crimes against humanity in a trial that reportedly lasted only several hours.
Brazil contacted Interpol in May and asked member countries, particularly Israel, for assistance in identifying a man they suspected was Brunner. When Ben-Artzi was asked to provide a set of Brunner's fingerprints, he passed the request on to Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel. The fingerprints were not found.
According to Ben-Artzi, Brazilian authorities believed Brunner might still be hiding in their country and were searching for him. "We told them that they don't need fingerprints and that it is enough to look at his hand and see that he is missing several fingers," he said.
Brunner was wounded twice by letter bombs sent to him - reportedly by the Mossad - during the 40 years he spent in Syria. In 1961 he reportedly lost his left eye in an explosion and in 1980 he lost three fingers in a similar blast.
Zuroff said he was surprised that Brazil was interested in investigating Brunner's whereabouts.
"Brazil has never expressed interest before in searching for Nazi war criminals," he said. "The only explanation is that the name Alois Brunner inspired their interest since he is the most wanted Nazi."
While he also doubted the veracity or the Brazilian motives and the possibility that Brunner was in Brazil, Zuroff said: "Brunner is such an important Nazi war criminal that any lead, no matter how slight, should be looked into."
I'd like to see Mossad just find him and kill him, no point bringing him back to Israel where the most he would face is prison.
Ping.
The photo is most emphatically not one of a 95-yrs old - more like 70.
I wonder how many Nazi war criminals Syria has protected over the years.
Probably not as many as South Africa, Brazil, Venezuela and Argentina.
geez! There's still a nazi war criminal ALIVE??
Its a 20-year old photo. Brunner gave a TV interview around 1985 in which he said he regretted nothing. I think that shot of the old Brunner is from that video.
40 or so years ago the late (unofficial head of Odessa) German "Uber-commando" Otto Skorczeny allegedly said that he would have never helped "that swine Brunner". So it would appear that Brunner wasn't himself very popular. I'd like to think that Skorczeny, one of the most brilliant "special operators" in history, and a man who did not commit war crimes himself, held those who did in low regard. Who knows?
A 95-year old man making a trip from Syria to Brazil is a bit far-fetched. And who would take care of him in Brazil? Mengele, 30 years ago, eeked out an obscure existence there (hence he escaped man's justice).
Brunner is probably long dead. How many 95-year olds are there? Very, very few. Someone ought to get Syria to fess up to what happened to "Dr. Georg Fisher".
What about the Kaiser, are we still looking for him?
Pretty amazing, isn't it? I have no desire to see guys like this escape justice, but what are you really going to threaten a 95 year old man with?
Put him in prison and you have to feed him. It's not like you are going to ruin his social life. How many geezers that age do anything more than sit around and watch tv anyhow.
You can't even torture him, he would just croak.
At some point, the desire for revenge against criminals like this gets silly.
Well, at least the Iranaian president has someone who can back up his claim that the Holocaust is a myth... /sarcasm
He certainly keeps a lower profile than the Hapsburgs.
A quick search indicates that that would be Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia. Picture and bio here: http://www.nettyroyal.nl/georg.html
At least we don't have to hunt for Franco, he's still dead.
It's hard to believe any Nazis are still alive. The war ended in 1945. They must be in their 90s. Look in "Assisted Living" homes.
It's hard to believe any Nazis are still alive. The war ended in 1945. They must be in their 90s. Look in "Assisted Living" homes.
Actually in Israel, the only crime that carries the death penalty is being a Nazi war criminal.
Eichmann was hanged by the Israelis. What makes you think the same won't happen in this case?
The name of the game is "let's see how much money we can waste on finding a man that will be dead within a few years."
Hell, he may be dead already.
Meanwhile, in this "international search" for an ex-Nazi, far worse people with identical views under different names run around the world with impugnity and without so much as a mention.
Too funny.
Kaiser Wilhelm II died in 1941 in the Netherlands.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.