In
its annual report on the international community's efforts
to bring ex-Nazis to justice, the Simon Wiesenthal Center
has awarded Germany the highest possible grade. This is the
first time Berlin has earned an "A."
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which describes itself as a Jewish human rights
group, has recognized Germany's increased effort to prosecute
former Nazis by awarding it top marks in its annual report
on the international effort to bring World War Two war criminals
to justice.
"There's been a monumental and highly significant change in German prosecution
policy," the center's head, Efraim Zuroff, told Deutsche Welle.
"German authorities and judges are taking a more proactive stance to investigating
and prosecuting Nazi war criminals, and for this reason we
are proud to award Berlin our highest mark," he said.
Zuroff singled out Germany's willingness to "prosecute non-Germans as well as Volksdeutsche - ethnic Germans - which for many
decades was not the case." He also lauded Berlin's willingness to put non-officers on trial too.
Zuroff highlighted two examples that
illustrate the change in German policy: the ongoing proceedings
against John Demjankjuk - an 89-year-old Ukrainian national
accused of being accessory to thousands of murders while
a guard at the infamous Sobibor death camp in occupied Poland
- and the conviction of Heinrich Boere, an SS officer sentenced
last month to life in prison for murdering three Dutch citizens
during World War Two.
'Complete failure'
Germany and the United States were
the only countries to earn the top "A" grade from the Wiesenthal Center, while a number of countries were criticized
in the report.
The center listed Estonia, Lithuania and Ukraine along with Australia, Canada
and Hungary as countries "whose efforts (or lack thereof) have resulted in complete failure during the
period under review."
Zuroff said that no legal obstacles to the prosecution of suspected Nazi war
criminals existed in those countries, but that there was
a general "lack of political will" to carry out the process of bringing elderly suspects to justice.
The report said the most disappointing
case was that of Sandor Kepiro, who was convicted by Hungary
of helping to organize the murder of at least 1,200 civilians
in Serbia in 1942. Kepiro has never been punished for his
crime, although the Wiesenthal Center has located him in
Budapest.
dw-world.de
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