The
Simon Wiesenthal Center is expanding its poster and reward
campaign in Germany in its push to track down Nazi war
criminals before it is too late, following a strong response
to its initial launch.
The center's top Nazi-hunter, Efraim Zuroff, said Monday that Operation Last
Chance II, launched in July, resulted in tips on 111
possible suspects from 19 countries.
"The response was
way beyond anything we expected," he said in a telephone interview.
Germany had the largest number
of potential suspects with 81, followed by the U.S. with
eight and Canada with three, he said.
So far, four of the tips have
developed into concrete cases being investigated by prosecutors
in Germany, though no charges have yet been filed.
They include a Berlin man
suspected of being a guard at the Dachau concentration
camp outside Munich, and a woman suspected of being a
guard at the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland
as well as in other camps, Zuroff said.
He would not provide further
details on the suspects, citing the ongoing investigations.
The center is offering up
to 25,000 euros ($34,000) for tips that lead to the arrest
and conviction of war crimes suspects.
The campaign started with
posters reading "late, but not too late" in Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. Now a further 2,500 posters are being displayed
in Leipzig, Munich, Magdeburg, Rostock, Stuttgart, Dresden,
Nuremberg and Frankfurt. abcnews.go.com
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