|
PUERTO MONTT, Chile, July 9 (Reuters) - Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff flew to southern
Chile on Wednesday in a bid to find the most wanted World
War Two criminal thought to be alive, and he urged Aribert
Heim, known as Dr Death, to turn himself in.
A doctor with Adolf Hitler's SS, Heim removed organs from victims without anesthetic
and killed hundreds of inmates at Mauthausen concentration
camp in Austria with injections of poison or gasoline
straight to the heart.
Heim has been on the run for
46 years since evading police in Germany in 1962 prior
to a planned prosecution. His family says he died in
1993. He would be 94 if he is alive.
Zuroff, who heads the hunt
for Nazis by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, believes Heim
is likely in Chilean or Argentine Patagonia, the region
between the Andes and south Atlantic. Heim's daughter
lives in Chilean Patagonia.
Hundreds of Nazis sought refuge
in Latin America after World War Two, many lured to Argentina
thanks to the open-door policies of Gen. Juan Domingo
Peron, as well as to Chile and Brazil.
"My message is:
Give up, turn yourself over and at least give the victims
closure. You've lived long enough without being behind
bars," Zuroff said in Puerto Month.
The center is offering a 315,000
euro ($495,000) reward for Heim's capture as part of
it's so-called "Operation Last Chance," and is planning an advertising blitz to try to elicit tips.
"He's a horrible
war criminal who murdered hundreds of people. Someone
like that doesn't deserve to live his life in peace and
tranquillity enjoying the scenery here in Puerto Montt," Zuroff said, snowcapped peaks in the distance.
Heim's daughter lives in a
modest chalet on the outskirts of Puerto Montt, which
sits 657 miles (1,058 km) south of the capital Santiago.
"Our guess is there
are people here who might be able to solve the mystery.
Somewhere there's someone who knows something that will
make a difference," Zuroff said.
Zuroff said Heim would be
one of the significant catches in recent decades of Nazi
hunting.
Zuroff is seeking to set up
a meeting with Heim's daughter through an intermediary
and plans to head on to Bariloche in neighboring Argentina
on Friday to build awareness.
Among the Nazis who fled to
Latin America, Josef Mengele, the "Angel of Death" at Auschwitz, escaped to Argentina and lived in Paraguay before he died in Brazil
in 1979. (Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
uk.reuters.com
|
