Before the outbreak of World War II, some 16,000 Jews lived in Serbia, of whom only 1,500 survived the war.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center will be expanding its final effort to capture the last remaining living war criminals who participated in the Holocaust through the expansion of its Operation Last Chance to Serbia.

Before the outbreak of World War II, some 16,000 Jews lived in Serbia, of whom only 1,500 survived the war.

The operation, which consists of posters offering substantial cash rewards to those who provide information leading to the arrest and conviction of those who participated in the European genocide, has led to arrests in Germany and is slated to begin in Serbia in March. Serbian NGOs Serbian Code and the Jasenovac Committee of the Orthodox Church have partnered with the SWC, the Jewish organization said in a statement.

“Prime Minister [Ivica] Dacic also expressed support for the forthcoming launch,” the SWC stated.

During a meeting with Dacic last week, the SWC’s top Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff, called on the Serbian government to “establish a memorial research and educational complex on the site of the Staro Sajmiste concentration camp in Belgrade” where tens of thousands of Jews were murdered during the war.

The camp was one of the locations in which the Nazis used gas vans to murder civilians.

jpost.com