Austria has set free a former Nazi concentration camp guard who was extradited by the US for allegedly participating in the massacre of more 8,000 civilians, including 400 children.

Josias Kumpf, a former member of the SS, participated in the Nazi operation Harvest Festival in November 1943 when more than 42,000 Jews were murdered over two days.

According to the US Justice Department, Mr Kumpf, 83, who immigrated to America from Austria in 1956, helped to kill about 8,000 inmates of the Trawniki concentration camp in Poland. He allegedly stood guard over a pit where prisoners were being executed and “finished off” the wounded.

The Austrian Justice Ministry said that Kumpf, who has been stripped of his American citizenship, could not be prosecuted and has therefore been set free, despite the fact that he has no passport or residence permit.

“We have always pointed out to the United States that he cannot be charged here with the crimes of which he is accused,” said Katharina Swoboda, spokeswoman for the Justice Ministry.

She said that the he statute of limitations relating to Mr Kumpf's alleged crimes had expired. In addition, Mr Kumpf was never an Austrian citizen — he was born in the former Yugoslavia — and his alleged crimes took place in Poland, not Austria.

She said that Austria was not avoiding taking responsibility; the authorities simply faced “legal obstacles”.

Mr Kumpf, a retired sausage factory worker from Wisconsin, was deported to Austria because it was his country of residence when he emigrated to America after the war.

Austrian police said that he would not be arrested or deported because there was no country of origin to which he could be returned. The decision appears to be in stark contrast with the country’s stringent policies towards immigration and asylum for which Austrian authorities have been repeatedly criticised by human rights groups in the past.

“He is a free man,” an Austrian interior ministry spokesman said, adding that Kumpf’s present whereabouts in the country were unknown to police.

Mr Kumpf joined the Skull Division, a SS unit notorious for war crimes and atrocities against civilians, and served in the German camp Sachsenhausen in 1942. He was later assigned to the Trawniki camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, but later claimed he had been forced by the SS to work as a concentration guard and denied being directly involved in the atrocities.

“Josias Kumpf, by his own admission, stood guard with orders to shoot any surviving prisoners who attempted to escape an SS massacre that left thousands of Jews dead,” the US Attorney-General's office said in a statement. Mr Kumpf admitted that his assignment was to watch for victims who survived the executions and “shoot to kill” if they attempted to climb out of the mass grave, the office said.

Jewish groups and opposition parties in Austria have demanded an immediate change of laws to allow for the prosecution of Nazi criminals irrespective of the statute of limitations.

In contrast, German authorities have fought a long-standing legal battle for the extradition of John Demjanjuk, 88, a former guard of the Sobibor concentration guard accused of participating in a mass murder of prisoners who lives in America. He is now expected to be extradited to stand trial in Munich.

Dr Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in Jerusalem, said: “The Kumpf case comes as no surprise. There has not been a successful prosecution of a Nazi criminal in Austrian courts for over 30 years — certainly not because of a lack of Nazis.

“While Germany continues its efforts to bring such criminals to justice, it seems that in Austria everything is being done to protect the Nazis. Kumpf will now be able to enjoy his strudel and schnitzel for the rest of his life.”

Dr Zuroff also cited the example of Milivoj Asner, one of the most-wanted Nazi criminals. Mr Asner, who lives in Austria, will not face prosecution because of his alleged poor mental health.

timesonline.co.uk