Simon Wiesenthal Center 2011 Report (Austria, Canada Nazi safe havens)

Simon Wiesenthal Center's Tenth Annual Report on the Investigation and Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals

Wiesenthal Center Annual Report Points to Lack of Political Will and Holocaust Distortion as Major Obstacles to Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals; Praises Hungary for Indictment of Dr. Sandor Kepiro; Three New Names on Center’s “Most Wanted” List

Jerusalem - The Simon Wiesenthal Center today released the initial findings of its tenth Annual Status Report on the Worldwide Investigation and Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals, which covers the period from April 1, 2010 until March 31, 2011 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.

1. 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 Communist are equal to those of the Nazis is another major obstacle to the prosecution of those responsible for the crimes of the Shoa.

2. The most important positive result in a specific case during the period under review has been Hungary’s decision to bring to justice Dr. Sandor Kepiro, one of the officers who organized the mass murder of at least 1,250 of civilians in Novi Sad, Serbia on January 23, 1942. Kepiro, who in 1944 in Hungary was convicted but never punished for the crime, escaped to Argentina after the war but was exposed by the Wiesenthal Center living in Budapest in the summer of 2006. He was indicted for war crimes on February 14, 2011 and his trial will begin this week on Thursday, May 5 in Budapest.

3. Three new names appear on this year’s list of “Most Wanted” Nazi war criminals, - Gerhard Sommer (Germany), Adam Nagorny (Germany) and Ivan Kalymon (USA) - replacing Samuel Kunz (#3), Adolf Storms (#4), and Peter Egner(#8), all of whom died during the period under review.

The author of the report, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, who coordinates the Center’s research on Nazi war criminals worldwide, noted that the statistics in the report clearly show that a significant measure of justice can still be achieved against Nazi war criminals. “During the past decade, at least eighty-nine convictions against Nazi war criminals have been obtained, at least seventy-nine new indictments have been filed, and close to three thousand 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 at least several such criminals will to be brought 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, especially in the United States, 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 went on to explain 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 during the period under review by countries such as the United States and Hungary, as well as the failures of countries like Austria, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and the Ukraine which have consistently failed to hold any Holocaust perpetrators accountable, as well as Sweden and Norway which in principle refuses 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.”

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

Also please visit our websites: www.operationlastchance.org and www.wiesenthal.com

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.

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 one indictment, or submitted an extradition request 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.

E: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Finland, Greece, New Zealand, Romania, Slovenia

X: Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Luxemburg, Paraguay, Russia, Slovakia, Spain, Uruguay

*A. 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

Alois Brunner is the most important unpunished Nazi war criminal who may still be alive, but the likelihood that he is already decreased increases with each passing year. Born in 1912 and last seen in 2001, the chances of his being alive are relatively slim, but until conclusive evidence of his demise is obtained, he should still be mentioned on any Most Wanted List of Holocaust perpetrators.

*B. Dr. Aribert Heim - ? Doctor in Sachsenhausen (1940), Buchenwald (1941) and Mauthausen (1941) concentration camps Murdered dozens of camp inmates by lethal injection in Mauthausen Status – disappeared in 1962 prior to planned prosecution; wanted in Germany and Austria New evidence revealed in February 2009 suggests that he may have died in Cairo in 1992, but questions regarding these findings and the fact that there is no corpse to examine, raise doubts as to the veracity of this information. During the past year, Heim was not found, nor was his death confirmed.

1. Dr. Sandor Kepiro - Hungary Hungarian gendarmerie officer; participated in organizing the mass murder of at least 1,250 civilians in Novi Sad, Serbia on January 23, 1942 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 refused to implement his original sentence but opened a new criminal investigation against him which yielded an indictment against him for war crimes on February 14, 2011. His trial is scheduled to open in Budapest on May 5, 2011.

2. Milivoj Ašner – Austria Police chief of Slavonska Požega, 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 in 2005 requested his extradition from Austria which initially refused the request because he ostensibly held Austrian citizenship; when it emerged that he had lost his Austrian citizenship, his extradition was refused on medical grounds. Media interviews with Ašner raised serious doubts about the decision of the Austrian doctors that he was medically unfit to stand trial and prompted a request by the Wiesenthal Center that he be examined by a foreign expert. In April 2009 a German expert confirmed the original assessment that he was suffering from dementia, but subsequent media interviews by Ašner again cast doubt on the veracity of the evaluation.

3. Klaas Carl Faber - Germany Volunteered for Dutch SS and served in SD as member of Sonderkommando Feldmeijer execution squad which executed members of Dutch resistance, Nazi opponents and those hiding Jews; also alleged to have served in a firing squad at the Westerbork transit camp from which Dutch Jews were deported to death camps. Status: Sentenced to death in 1947 by a Dutch court for the murder of at least 11 people, his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, but he escaped from jail in 1952 to Germany, where he was granted Germany citizenship which protected him from extradition back to the Netherlands. All efforts to have him prosecuted in Germany, have hereto been unsuccessful, although the German authorities have indicated a willingness to reexamine the case. On November 25, 2010, the Dutch government issued a European arrest warrant for the incarceration of Faber, and the Bavarian judicial authorities are scheduled to make a decision in this case within the next few weeks.

4. Gerhard Sommer-Germany Former SS-Untersturmfuehrer in the 16th Panzergrenadier Division Reichsfuehrer-SS; participated in the massacre of 560 civilians in the Italian village of Sant' Anna di Stazzema Status: On June 25, 2005, Sommer was convicted in absentia by a military court in La Spezia, Italy for committing "murder with special cruelty" in Sant' Anna di Stazzema. Since 2002, he has been under investigation in Germany, but no criminal charges have yet been brought against him.

5. Adam Nagorny-Germany Served as an SS guard at the Trawniki (Poland) SS training camp; served as an armed SS guard at the Treblinka I concentration camp whose prisoners were used to build the nearby Treblinka death camp; alleged to have shot inmates of the camp Status: An official investigation was initiated by prosecutors in Munich in early 2011, in the wake of the discovery of of witness statements that Nagorny had participated in executions of prisoners in Treblinka I.

6. Karoly (Charles) Zentai – Australia Participated in manhunts, persecution, and murder of Jews in Budapest in 1944 Status: discovered in 2004 in the framework of “Operation: Last Chance;” Hungary issued an international arrest warrant against him and asked for his extradition from Australia in 2005; Zentai appealed against his extradition and on July 2, 2010 a court in Perth ruled in his favor. Australian Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O’Conner, acting on behalf of the Hungarian government, appealed the decision and the case will be decided within the coming months.

7. Soeren Kam - Germany Volunteered for SS-Viking Division, where he served as an officer; participated in the murder of Danish anti-Nazi newspaper editor Carl Henrik Clemmensen. Status: In 1999 Denmark requested the extradition of Kam, which Germany refused due to his German citizenship. Subsequent extradition request was refused in early 2007 on the grounds that Clemmensen’s death was not murder but manslaughter, which was under a statue of limitation. Efforts continue to bring Kam to justice either in Germany or in Denmark.

8. Ivan (John) Kalymon– United States Served in Nazi-controlled Ukrainian Auxiliary Police in Lvov (then German-occupied Poland, today Ukraine) during the years 1941-1944, during which time he participated in the murder, roundups and deportation of Jews living in the Lvov Ghetto. Status: On January 31, 2011, Kalymon was ordered deported from the United States to Germany, Ukraine, Poland, or any country willing to admit him, for concealing his wartime service with forces in collaboration with Nazi Germany and his participation violent acts of persecution.

9. Algimantas Dailide – Germany Served in the Vilnius District of the Saugumas (Lithuanian Security Police); arrested Jews and Poles executed by the Nazis and local Lithuanian collaborators. Status: His American citizenship was revoked in 1997 and he was deported from the United States in 2004 for concealing his wartime activities with the Saugumas. In 2006, he was convicted by a Lithuanian court for arresting 12 Jews trying to escape from the Vilnius Ghetto (and 2 Poles), who were subsequently executed by the Nazis, and was sentenced to five years imprisonment. The judges, however, refused to implement his sentence because he was old and was caring for his ill wife and “did not pose a danger to society.” In July 2008, in response to an appeal against the refusal to implement his sentence, Dailde was ruled medically unfit to be punished without being personally examined by the doctors who provided the expertise.

10. Mikhail Gorshkow – Estonia Served as interpreter for the Gestapo in Belarus and is alleged to have participated in the mass murder of Jews in Slutzk. Status: Fled from the United States to Estonia before he was denaturalized for concealing his wartime service with the Nazis; has been under investigation in Estonia since his arrival several years ago, but no legal action has ever been taken against him.

you are very close.

See what was happening in Canadian Human Rights Commission.

More active neo-Nazis than former Canadian Nazi Party.

Quoute from Ezra Levant's article

"...In fact, CHRC employees have been active members of neo-Nazi organizations for years, and have published countless anti-Semitic, anti-gay and anti-black comments online. CHRC employees have admitted to this under oath. On the same day Monfette testified about the hacking, CHRC investigator Dean Steacy testified there were no guidelines about what CHRC staff could do using their online Nazi memberships.

Steacy, for example, used his Nazi membership to write encouraging words to a racist group called B. C. White Pride. He praised them, told them their racist posters were "great" and promised to distribute their literature. Your tax dollars at work.

Other CHRC investigators went further. One praised Nazi leaders ( "I still say [Adrien] Arcand is our man!"); called for Canadian police to discriminate against blacks ( "exactly when will white cops understand that they should stand by THEIR race?!"); and trashed a Jewish youth group ( "if people spent the time building fellow WNs [White Nationalists] up rather than tearing them down we'd be dangerous. Unless your goal is to tear people down in which case go join Hillel or something.")

At least 12 CHRC prosecutions have been tainted by CHRC staff or witnesses using agent provocateur tactics like that. They've even written Nazi shorthand for "Heil Hitler".

Steacy testified that at least seven CHRC staff have access to Nazi membership accounts: Steacy himself, his two personal assistants, investigator Sandy Kozak, lawyer Giacomo Vigna, manager John Chamberlin, and former CHRC investigator and current serial witness and complainant Richard Warman.

By sheer numbers, the Canadian Human Rights Commission has more Nazi members than the tiny Canadian Nazi Party did when it briefly existed in the 1960s.

If real police and prosecutors behaved this way, they would be suspended and any criminal charges tainted by such misconduct would be stayed. Not so at the CHRC, which lacks an internal affairs office or written operational policies. It doesn't even have a code of ethics.

It's become so embarrassing that even the tribunal -- the kangaroo court that rubber-stamps CHRC censorship prosecutions -- has ended its silence. Four months ago, the tribunal examined some of these comments, including one denouncing Jewish politicians as "scum."

"I do not see any acceptable reason for [Richard] Warman to have participated on the Stormfront or Vanguard [neo-Nazi] sites," wrote the tribunal. "It is possible that his activity in this regard could have precipitated further hate messages in response ... The evidence in this case of his participating on Internet sites similar to the Northern Alliance [neo-Nazi] site is both disappointing and disturbing."

It's a scandal that the CHRC joins Nazi groups on the taxpayers' dime. But instead of recognizing the problem and fixing it, Lynch is trying to cover it up.

The Prime Minister needs to intervene. It's time Stephen Harper fired everyone with a Nazi membership at the CHRC, along with the woman who is permitting their bigotry.

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More important from a historical perspective, those countries who sheltered them deserve credit in the years to come. But a few cases worth pursuing, including Klaas Faber mentioned above, a Dutch citizen sentenced to death over 60 years ago, a fate he avoided (unlike his brother who was hung) by escaping from a Dutch prison and fleeing to Germany where, as a non-German member of the SS he was granted German citizenship in the 50s, and was thus free from extradition. For murder, since it was carried out in the name of the Reich, aka the motherland. Go figure.

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