“The recent death of Milivoj Ašner in Austria unprosecuted for his crimes, is a travesty of justice which reinforces the total failure of the Austrian judicial authorities to adequately deal with the issue of Nazi war criminals during the past more than three decades.

Ašner’s role in the persecution and death of hundreds of Serb, Jewish, and Roma residents of the city of Požega, Croatia in his capacity as local Ustasha  police chief was critical and his criminal responsibility for their tragic fate is absolutely clear.

To Croatia’s credit they act for his extradition from Austria in 2005 but Ašner was able to escape justice due to faulty handling of his case by the Austrian authorities, who instead of doing everything possible to bring him to justice allowed sympathetic doctors to prevent his prosecution by declaring him unfit for trial although he gave numerous media interviews in which he described his past in a very lucid manner.

“On this occasion it is important to reiterate the critical role of political will in bringing Holocaust perpetrators to justice and to call upon all the countries who face this issue to make an urgent final effort to bring these murderers to justice before it is too late to do so.”

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Jerusalem. Das Simon Wiesenthal Center hat heute die Untersuchungen zur Aufklärung der Ermordung von 200 Menschen im April 1945 auf dem Gelände der SS-Kaserne in Graz-Wetzelsdorf begrüßt. Gleichzeitig fragte Dr. Efraim Zuroff, Leiter des Wiesenthal-Büros in Jerusalem, warum die Aufarbeitung erst so spät beginnt.

„Schon 1945 wurden Massengräber gefunden und Leichen exhumiert. Täter waren bekannt, aber die österreichischen Behörden haben es 65 Jahre lang versäumt, nach ihnen zu fahnden. Natürlich ist es gut dass jetzt endlich ermittelt wird“, so Efraim Zuroff, „aber warum hat man so lange gewartet?“ Jetzt dränge die Zeit. Efraim Zuroff fordert die Behörden dazu auf, keine weitere Zeit zu verschwenden: „Die Täter müssen gefunden und, falls möglich, vor Gericht gestellt werden.“

Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center today harshly criticized the election yesterday of ultranationalist Martin Graf of the extremist Freedom Party as the deputy president of the Austrian parliament. In a statement issued in Jerusalem by its chief Nazi-hunter Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center called the election of Graf “ a highly-distressing result which will considerably strengthen the forces of right-wing extremism in Austria, a country whose representatives should be highly aware of the dangers of such an ideology.”

According to Zuroff:
“Graf has on numerous occasions made clear his extremist views and his membership in the “Olympia” student union is clear proof of his ultranationalist ideology. The fact that he could be elected Deputy President of the Austrian Parliament should light warning signals not only in Austria but all over Europe.”

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Belgrade – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today warmly welcomed the decision, announced here today at a press conference convened by Serbian Justice Minister Snežana Malovic and chief war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukčevic with the participation of the Center’s chief Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff to seek the extradition of three Nazi war criminals, two of whom were discovered and exposed in the framework of the Center’s “Operation: Last Chance” project. The criminals in question are former Hungarian gendarmerie officer Dr. Sandor Kepiro, currently residing in Budapest Hungary; former Ustasha police chief of Požega, Croatia Milivoj Ašner, currently residing in Klagenfurt, Austria and former Belgrade Security Police operative Peter Egner, currently residing in Seattle, Washington, USA. The first two were found and exposed by the Wiesenthal Center.

In his remarks at the press conference, Dr. Zuroff stressed the practical and symbolic significance of the decision and praised the new Serbian government for undertaking this step which had hereto merely been discussed by its predecessors.

According to Zuroff:
“In today’s circumstances, in which the most difficult part of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice is often the lack of political will of governments to take the necessary action, Serbia’s decision to seek the extradition of Kepiro, Ašner and Egner sends a powerful message that the passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the murderers and that it is still possible to bring the perpetrators of the Holocaust to the bar of justice. We hope that these requests will be issued as quickly as possible to maximize their impact.”

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Puerto Montt, Chile – The Simon Wiesenthal Center announced today that it had already received new information regarding the possible whereabouts of its “Most Wanted” Nazi war criminal Dr. Aribert Heim, in the framework of the launch of the latest stage in its “Operation: Last Chance” project. In a press conference held here today by its chief Nazi hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, and its Latin American director Sergio Widder, the Center's officials stated that since announcing its new ad campaign for “Operation: Last Chance” in Santiago on Tuesday, it had received two important tips regarding the possible whereabouts of Dr. Heim in Chile.

According to Zuroff and Widder:

“The current phase of “Operation: Last Chance” which includes an ad campaign focusing the 315,000 euros reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of Dr. Heim and meetings with top police and justice officials in Chile and Argentina to help facilitate the ongoing investigations, will not necessarily lead to Heim’s immediate capture. These steps are designed, however, to put in place the tools which we hope will ultimately lead to his arrest.”

Vienna – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today called for a panel of international medical experts to assess the health of hereto unprosecuted, escaped Croatian Nazi war criminal Milivoj Ašner, presently living in Klagenfurt, Austria to which he fled following his exposure by the Center in the framework of its “Operation: Last Chance” project. In a meeting here today with Austrian Justice Minister Dr. Maria Berger, the Center’s chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff noted that recent photos, videos, and interviews of Ašner by journalists from the British daily The Sun clearly disprove the results of court-appointed Austrian doctors who claimed that Ašner was suffering from dementia and was too ill to be extradited to Croatia to stand trial for his crimes as police chief of Požega. Zuroff submitted an affadavit from Sun journalist Brian Flynn who interviewed Ašner for 45 minutes and found him to be “lucid throughout the interview and that he did not forget any facts such as what he had done in the war.”

According to Zuroff:
“Austria’s handling of the Ašner case has been severely flawed from the very beginning and therefore the request that special measures be taken to assess Ašner‘s health objectively are entirely justified. His tranquil life in Klagenfurt, protected by the Austrian legal system, is an insult to his many victims and their families.”

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Jerusalem – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today urged Austria to immediately extradite wanted Croatian Nazi war criminal Milivoj Ašner, who has been living in Klagenfurt since shortly after his exposure by the Wiesenthal Center as part of its “Operation: Last Chance” project on June 30, 2004. Ašner, who served as the Ustasha police chief of Požega during World War II and orchestrated the destruction of the local Serb, Jewish and Gypsy communities, is wanted for war crimes in his native Croatia but his extradition has hereto been blocked by the Austrian authorities on medical grounds. more...

Jerusalem. Das Simon Wiesenthal Center Center hat heute tiefes Bedauern darüber zum Ausdruck gebracht, dass der Aufseherin des KZ Majdanek, Erna Wallisch, die bis letzten Samstag in Wien wohnte, eine Anklage wegen ihrer Holocaust-Verbrechen durch ihren Tod in einem Krankenhaus erspart geblieben ist. In einer Stellungnahme hat der Nazi-Jäger und Chef des Wiesenthal Büros in Jerusalem, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, heute festgestellt, dass der Tod sie vor einem möglichen Gerichtsverfahren bewahrt hat. Ein solches Verfahren sei kürzlich immer wahrscheinlicher geworden, nachdem polnische Behörden fünf Zeuginnen ausfindig gemacht hatten, die als Majdanek-Überlebende über Verbrechen der Wallisch ausgesagt hatten. Diese Zeugenaussagen hatten letztlich Österreich dazu bewogen, das Verfahren gegen Wallisch wieder aufzunehmen.

Dr. Efraim Zuroff: „Erna Wallisch und ihre Familie können sich bei den früheren österreichischen Regierungen dafür bedanken, dass sie durch jahrzehntelanges Versagen der ehemaligen Aufseherin dazu verholfen haben, dass sie nie für ihre Rolle im Vernichtungslager Majdanek und im KZ Ravensbrück bestraft wurde. Die Tatsache, dass eine Frau, die selbst gestanden hatte, Menschen auf dem Weg zur Gaskammer begleitet und sie dabei bewacht zu haben, nie für ihre grausamen Verbrechen zur Rechenschaft gezogen wurde, ist ein Schandmal für Österreich und ein starker Beweis für den über Jahrzehnte hinweg fehlenden politischen Willen, österreichische NS-Täter zur Rechenschaft zu ziehen. Ihr Tod sollte allen Regierungen, die noch mit der Verfolgung von NS-Verbrechern zu tun haben, in Erinnerung rufen, dass sie alles dafür tun müssen, diese Verbrecher vor Gericht zu stellen, so lange es noch möglich ist.“

Das Wiesenthal Center hatte im Mai 2004 bei der Operation Last Chance erstmals Hinweise auf die KZ-Aufseherin Wallisch erhalten und ihren Fall aufgedeckt.

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Jerusalem – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today expressed deep regret that Majdanek guard Erna Wallisch, until last Saturday a resident of Vienna, was spared prosecution for her Holocaust crimes in the wake of her death in a hospital in the Austrian capital. In a statement issued today in Jerusalem by its chief Nazi-hunter Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center noted that Wallisch’s death had prevented her from facing prosecution, which recently became a strong possibility in the wake of the discovery by the Polish authorities of five women who had survived the Majdanek death camp and had witnessed crimes committed by Wallisch. (These testimonies led to the recent decision the Austrian authorities to reopen the Wallisch case.)

According to Zuroff:

“Erna Wallisch and her family can thank the decades-long failure of successive Austrian governments for the fact that she ultimately was never punished for her role at the Majdanek death camp and Ravenbruck concentration camp. The fact that a woman who admitted taking people to be gassed and guarding them so that they could not escape was never held accountable for her heinous crimes is a badge of shame for Austria and stark proof of the decades-long lack of political will in Vienna to bring Austrian Holocaust perpetrators to justice. Her death should serve as a reminder to all the governments which are dealing with the cases of Nazi war criminals that they had best expedite these prosecutions while justice can still be achieved.”

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Jerusalem – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today urged Austrian Justice Minister Dr. Maria Berger to expedite the case of Majdanek guard Erna Wallisch, which was recently reopened by the Austrian authorities, in order to ensure that she be held accountable for her crimes at the Nazi death camp on the outskirts of Lublin. In a letter sent today from Jerusalem by its chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center noted the urgency of the situation due to Wallisch’s age (85) and emphasized the importance of such prosecutions despite the decades that have passed since the crimes were committed.

According to Zuroff:

“The new evidence and witnesses uncovered by the Poles have created an unforeseen opportunity to achieve justice in this case and I therefore urge you to do everything possible to expedite the investigation in Vienna so that justice can be achieved. In this respect, it is important to remember that the passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrators and that murderers do not deserve any consideration just because of longevity.

“Austria’s absolute failure during the past three decades to prosecute Nazi war criminals is well-known, but one of the first steps you took was to add 50,000 euros to the reward for information on escaped Nazi war criminal Dr. Aribert Heim. We hope that you will continue to distinguish yourself from your predecessors by actively expediting the Wallisch case so that she will not be allowed to elude justice.

“People like Erna Wallisch do not deserve any sympathy. The fact that they have not previously been convicted is a travesty of justice which can now be corrected. Doing so, will send a very powerful message that Austria has finally ceased to be a haven for the perpetrators of the Holocaust.”

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Jerusalem. Das Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem verlangt eine neue Untersuchung des Massakers von Rechnitz/Österreich, bei dem im Ende März 1945 etwa 180 Juden erschossen worden sind. Dr. Efraim Zuroff, Leiter des Centers in Jerusalem: „Der Massenmord ist nie wirklich aufgeklärt, die Ermittlungsverfahren sind unter zum Teil merkwürdigen Umständen eingestellt worden.“ more...

Jerusalem. Der Nazijäger des Simon Wiesenthal Centers, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, Leiter des Büros in Jerusalem, hat heute die Behauptungen des Buchautoren Danny Baz über den angeblichen Tod des KZ-Arzts Aribert Heim („Dr. Tod“) als „pure Fantasie“ bezeichnet. Der ehemalige israelische Offizier Danny Baz hatte behauptet, er habe Anfang der 1980er Jahre in den USA an der Tötung von Dr. Aribert Heim teilgenommen. Baz stellt seine Behauptungen in einem Buch auf, das jetzt in Frankreich unter dem Titel „Ni oubli, ni pardon, la traque du dernier Nazi“ erscheinen soll. more...

Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, today dismissed as “pure fantasy” the claims by former Israeli colonel Danny Baz that he had participated in the early eighties in the execution in the United States of notorious Nazi war criminal Dr. Aribert Heim (“Dr.Death”), who is wanted for the murder of hundreds of inmates of the infamous Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Baz makes his claims in a book scheduled for publication in France this week under the title Ni oubli, ni pardon; la traque du dernier Nazi [Not Forgotten or Forgiven; On the trail of the last Nazi]. more...

Jerusalem. Das Simon Wiesenthal Center Center hat heute seinen sechsten Jahresbericht über die weltweite Strafverfolgung von Nazi-Verbrechern vorgelegt. Der Bericht untersucht den Zeitraum vom 1. April 2006 bis 31. März 2007. Er vergibt Noten von A (höchste) bis F für die Bemühungen von mehr als drei dutzend Ländern, in denen entweder NS-Verbrechen passiert sind oder die nach dem II. Weltkrieg Holocaust Täter aufgenommen haben. more...

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. more...

Jerusalem - The Simon Wiesenthal Center welcomed the announcement made public today by the Austrian Justice Ministry on its official website, that it was offering the sum of 50,000 euros for information which would lead to the capture of the number one and number two "Most Wanted" escaped Nazi war criminals Alois Brunner and Dr. Aribert Heim. Brunner, who was last seen alive in 2001 in Syria, where he has enjoyed the full protection of the Syrian government for decades, was responsible for the deportation to death camps of 128,500 Jews from Austria [47,000], Greece [44,000], France [23,500], and Slovakia [14,000]. Heim, whose current whereabouts are unknown but is presumed to be living in Spain or South America, murdered hundreds of inmates of the Mauthausen concentration camp by injecting phenol into their hearts.

 In early 2006, the Center's chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, met in Vienna with the Austrian ministers of justice and the interior to ask the Austrian government to match the prize of 130,000 euros being offered by the German government for information leading to the capture of Heim which the Wiesenthal Center had matched. Thus the Austrian prize brings the reward being offered for information which will facilitate the arrest of Heim to a total of 310,000 euros.

Zuroff noted that in the past financial rewards offered for assistance in the capture of Nazi war criminals had proven critical, as in the case of notorious camp commander Josef Schwammberger whose arrest in Argentina was facilitated by a similar reward offered by the German government.

According to Zuroff:

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Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center today reissued its call to the Austrian government to join with the German authorities and the Wiesenthal Center in the financial reward currently being offered to solicit information which would lead to the capture and trial of escaped Nazi war criminal Dr. Aribert Heim, who murdered hundreds of inmates with lethal injections of phenol to the heart in the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria in1941.

In a statement issued today in Jerusalem, the Center’s chief Nazi-hunter Israel director Dr.Efraim Zuroff noted that almost a year and a half had passed since his meetings in Vienna with the Austrian ministers of justice and the interior, both of whom stated that the government’s participation in such a reward was legally possible, yet despite the passage of so much time on a matter of such urgency, no answer had yet been received.

According to Zuroff:
„Today, probably somewhere in South America, Dr. Aribert Heim will be celebrating his birthday, very-satisfied with the fact that he has already eluded justice for 45 years. (He was about to be prosecuted in West Germany in 1962, when he disappeared.) In meetings this week with the special German police task force to capture Heim, we were reinforced in our belief that he is still alive and under these circumstances, the enlargement by the Austrian government of the reward for his capture can be of considerable help in bringing him to justice. I therefore urge the Austrian authorities to join in this initiative as quickly as possible and thereby considerably increase the chances that this arch murderer will finally be held accountable for his crimes.“

Jerusalem – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today expressed satisfaction in the wake of confirmation received via the Austrian Embassy in Tel-Aviv that the Austrian authorities had launched an official criminal investigation into the widespread display of fascist Ustasha symbols at the May 12 gathering of Croatian nationalists in Bleiburg , Austria . The Center's chief Nazi-hunter Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff had officially protested the failure of the Austrian authorities to prevent or stop the display of the symbols of the Croatian fascist Ustasha movement which “made a mockery of Austria's ban on Nazi symbols and its law against Holocaust denial,” shortly after the event.

In a statement issued in Jerusalem , Zuroff welcomed the launching of the investigation and urged its expedition “to send an unequivocal message that Austria will not allow the display of symbols which extol the fascist movement which conducted an official policy of genocide against Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies during World War II.”

“In that respect, there was absolutely no difference between the Nazis and their Ustasha allies,” said Zuroff.

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Jerusalem – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today protested the utter failure this past Sunday of the Austrian authorities to prevent or stop the widespread use of Croatian fascist Ustasha symbols at a gathering of Croatian nationalist extremists held in Bleiburg, Austria. In a statement issued in Jerusalem and transmitted orally to the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Austrian Embassy in Israel, the Center’s chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director, Dr. Efraim Zuroff called for a full investigation of the events at Bleiburg and for steps to be taken to prevent their recurrence.

According to Zuroff:

“The fascist demonstrators at Bleiburg made a mockery of Austria’s ban on the use of Nazi symbols and its law against Holocaust denial by showing up in Ustasha uniforms and waving photographs of Ustasha leader Ante Pavelic, the person most responsible for the genocide carried out by the Croatian state (NDH) against Serbs, Jews and Gypsies during World War II.

“Is it any wonder that Austria continues to give haven to Croatian war criminal Milivoj Ašner, who lives in nearby Klagenfurt? If nationalist extremists can parade in Ustasha uniforms in 2007, today’s Austria is obviously sympathetic to Ašner, whose extradition to stand trial in Croatia for his crimes as Požega police chief has been blocked by Austria for over a year and a half.”

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Belgrade- The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, met here today with Serbian leaders to enlist their support in the ongoing efforts to facilitate the prosecution of three war criminals who committed crimes against Jews, Serbs, and Gypsies on the territory of former Yugoslavia during World War II. The cases in question are those of: former Hungarian gendarmerie officer Dr. Sandor Kepiro, who participated in the mass murder of civilians in Novi Sad in January 1942 and is currently living in Budapest; former Croatian police chief of the city of Slavonska Požega Milivoj Ašner, who orchestrated the persecution and murder of hundreds of civilians under his control and is currently residing in Klagenfurt, Austria; and the former Croatian governor of Dubrovnik, who carried out a policy of persecution and repression against Serbs, Jews, and Gypsies and presently lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In separate meetings with Prime Minister Koštunica (together with Justice Minister Stojković and President Tadić, Zuroff stressed the need for Serbia to adopt a proactive stance on these cases and urged the Serbs to seek the extradition of all three criminals. Both Koštunica and Tadić expressed unqualified support for the Center’s attempts to facilitate the prosecution of Holocaust perpetrators and promised that the Serbian authorities would make every effort to provide evidence and political support for this effort.

According to Zuroff:
“I am encouraged by my meetings with both the Prime Minister and the President, whose support for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals was unequivocal, and hope that it will be translated into practical political and judicial action by the pertinent Serbian authorities as quickly as possible.”

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Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center today renewed its call for the resignation of Tyrol governor Herwig Van Staa in the wake of his attempts yesterday to falsify the Nazi past of former Innsbruck deputy mayor Ferdinand Obenfeldner. (Late last week, the Center’s chief Nazi-hunter Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff had called for Van Staa’s resignation following revelations that he and other local political leaders had celebrated Obenfeldner 90th birthday despite his wartime past as a Gestapo operative in Innsbruck.)

According to press reports, Van Staa yesterday defended his links to the former deputy mayor by claiming that Obenfeldner had “never served in the Gestapo or lied regarding his biography,” in total contradiction to all available historical documentation. Zuroff called Van Staa’s statements, as reported by the Austrian media, “absolutely shocking and incomprehensible,” and sufficient basis for his immediate resignation.

According to Zuroff:
“Perhaps in Austria, which continues to this day to serve as a haven for Nazi war criminals such as Milivoj Ašner and Erna Wallisch, it is acceptable practice for political leaders to cover up the Nazi past of their colleagues, but we find such behavior exceptionally reprehensible. Van Staa’s fabrications cannot erase the fact that Obenfeldner was a Gestapo operative who took part in the anti-Jewish operation in Innsbruck on Kristallnacht, that he was a member of the SS, and served in a Wehrmacht unit which participated in heinous war crimes in Greece and Italy. If Van Staa thinks that such a record is praiseworthy, he obviously does not deserve to wield political power.”

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Jerusalem- The Simon Wiesenthal Center today issued a public call for the immediate resignation of Tyrol Governor Herwig von Staa and other local political leaders in the wake of an event they recently organized to honor former Gestapo operative and Innsbruck deputy mayor Ferdinand Obenfeldner. Among the politicians who gathered in Innsbruck several weeks ago to honour the former SS-man on the occasion of his 90th birthday were Innsbruck mayor Hilde Zoch, the head of the Tyrolean SPÖ, Hannes Gschwentner, the chief of the SPÖ in Innsbruck, Ernst Pechlaner and local SPÖ-politician Marie-Luise Pokorny-Reitter.

In a statement issued today in Jerusalem by its chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center expressed its anger and frustration that individuals whose deeds during the Nazi period should be publically repudiated, instead are honored by Austrian public figures, who clearly should be acting differently.

According to Zuroff:

“The fact that a person like Obenfeldner, who helped carry out the Kristallnacht pogrom in Innsbruck, in the course of which innocent Jews were murdered, and who is also suspected of participating in the killing of two Polish forced laborers was able to serve for more than 20 years as deputy mayor of Innsbruck and is still presented as a role model by local public figures clearly shows that Austria today remains a virtual paradise for Nazi war criminals. Such behavior makes it more than obvious why not a single Holocaust perpetrator has been successfully prosecuted in Austria in more than three decades and why the country is protecting escaped Croatian Nazi war criminal Milivoj Ašner (currently residing in Klagenfurt), whose extradition to stand trial for his wartime crimes in Požega has been requested more than a year ago by the Croatian judicial authorities.”

“The time has come for Austria not only to acknowledge the truth of extensive complicity in Nazi crimes by Austrians, but also to accept and implement the obvious practical implications,” said Zuroff.

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Zagreb – The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s chief Nazi-hunter Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff met late last night with Croatian Attorney-General Mladen Bajić and Deputy Attorney-General Antun Kvakan to discuss ongoing efforts by Croatia to prosecute escaped Ustasha police chief Milivoj Ašner (currently residing in Klagenfurt, Austria) and investigate former Ustasha governor of Dubrovnik Ivo Rojnica (currently living in Buenos Aires, Argentina). In the course of the meeting, Zuroff urged the Croatian prosecutors to apply increased pressure on the Austrian authorities who have hereto refused to accede to a Croatian request for Ašner’s extradition, which was submitted in September 2005.

Croatian Attorney-General Bajić acknowledged the intransigence of the Austrian authorities and promised to urge the Croatian Justice Ministry to increase its efforts to expedite the Ašner case.

According to Zuroff:

“Time is rapidly running out in this case and therefore a concentrated effort must be made by all involved parties to finally convince the Austrian authorities that there is absolutely no basis for their refusal to turn over the former police chief of Požega to face charges for his role in the persecution and deportation to concentration camps, where they were murdered, of hundreds of Serbs, Jews and Gypsies.”

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Jerusalem – Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Drašković expressed his unqualified support for the recent initiative of the Simon Wiesenthal Center to encourage Serbia to seek the extradition of three Nazi war criminals, in a meeting held last night in Jerusalem with the Center's chief Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff.

The criminals under discussion are:

Zuroff welcomed the support of Foreign Minister Drašković and said that a proactive stance by the Serbian government might ultimately make the difference whether or not these Nazi criminals would finally be brought to justice.

All three cases have been the focus of intensive recent efforts by the Wiesenthal Center, with the latter two having been discovered by the Center in the framework of its “Operation: Last Chance” project which offers financial rewards for information which facilitates the prosecution and punishment of Holocaust perpetrators.

For more information call 00-972-50-7214156