MKs, Yad Vashem can’t agree whether to extradite Bernhard
Frank who may just be former Nazi functionary accused of
trumped-up charges by fame-seeking filmmaker.
Is Bernhard Frank a Nazi war criminal who should be extradited
to Israel from Germany to stand trial for his role in the
murder of Jews during the Holocaust, or is he merely an inconsequential
former Nazi functionary accused of trumped-up charges by
a fame-seeking filmmaker? Controversy surrounding Frank’s
identity erupted on Monday when several lawmakers issued
statements calling for the extradition of 97- year-old Frank,
calling him the “highest-ranking Nazi war criminal alive,
whose whereabouts only recently came to light.”
MK Ze’ev Bielski of Kadima, who raised the issue in the Knesset Immigration,
Absorption and Diaspora Committee, called for his “immediate”
extradition; MK Danny Danon of Likud said trying him was
a “moral imperative”; and MK Avraham Michaeli of Shas showered
praise on American Mark Gould, the self-appointed detective
who brought the charges against Frank.
But Yad Vashem said later that day
that Frank’s name did not appear in any “serious research
about the Shoah.”
Efraim Zuroff, the Israel Director
of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, went further, calling Gould’s
claim that Frank was a Nazi war criminal an “old wives tale”
and the politicians who called for his extradition “a bunch
of ignoramuses.”
“In terms of criminality Frank is
inconsequential,” Zuroff said. “Two things clearly show the
flawed approach of the individuals’ initiative: One, that
they didn’t turn to the Germans to prosecute him. Germany
prosecutes war criminals in most cases and has had very impressive
results in the past year. Two, all the research done on Himmler
and he never even mentioned this Frank. Add to that that
he’s living openly – they’re turning an ant into an elephant.
Plus, the whole idea of launching a criminal lawsuit in New
York. None of it fits.”
Gould, who is currently in Israel,
insists that his allegations are accurate.
He told The Jerusalem Post he “stumbled”
across Frank when he was living undercover as a neo-Nazi
in Germany for the purpose of shooting a documentary. He
said Frank’s signature was on several orders pertaining to
the murder to Jews by the Nazis and that he had admitted
on tape to committing war crimes against Jews.
But Yad Vashem, whose officials have
reviewed Gould’s findings, did not corroborate his claims.
“We do not have information in our
archives that point at Bernhard Frank being a high-level
Nazi official,” it said in a laconic statement in response
to an inquiry by the Post. “From among the serious research
about the Shoah, Frank is unknown.”
Gould said in response that he had
another meeting scheduled with Yad Vashem officials in which
he would try to persuade them of Frank’s guilt. Either way,
he said, it was not impossible for the institution to make
a mistake.
“Things just keep appearing all the
time,” he said. “I’m Mark, a guy from California who stumbled
onto this. Yad Vashem can’t be everywhere at every time.
The SS alone was a million people at one time. Were they
all criminals? No. But what Frank did was a war crime.”
Meanwhile, Bielski defended his decision
to raise the issue in the Knesset committee, saying he had
seen Gould’s findings and believed the attorney-general needed
to determine whether Frank should stand trial in Israel.
“If it turns out that he had nothing
to do with the murder of the Jewish people then we rest out
case,” he said.
“My job isn’t to make inquiries and
fact-check but to raise issues I come across as an MK. If
the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Yad Vashem convince the attorney-general
that Frank was an unimportant official, then that’s fine
by me.”
Zuroff, who has played an active role
in bringing war criminals to trial, said the affair was detrimental
to Israel and efforts to bring justice to the victims of
the Nazis and their allies.
“Gould got his book contract and the
film contract is not far away,” he said.
jpost.com
|