A Nazi-hunting Jewish group will launch Operation Last Chance this summer to try to catch the last Nazis still in hiding before they die of old age.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, which has been tracking down Nazis for more than 50 years, will run an advertising campaign in Germany and is offering a reward of €10,000 (£6,745) for information leading to the seizure of any of the thousands of Nazi war criminals who have evaded capture.

The Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, now 95, has decided to spearhead one last push before retiring.

As most veterans of the second world war are in their eighties, the campaign, which is already running in the Baltics, Romania, Poland and Austria, is probably the last chance to bring war criminals to justice.

The head of the centre, Efraim Zuroff, told Focus mag azine: "There are still thousands of war criminals in Europe. We're going wherever Jews were murdered. Those countries also have the most witnesses."

The centre has criticised the eastern European countries for dragging their heels, but has praised German efforts in pursuing the criminals.

Mr Zuroff says there is a "window of opportunity" of between three to five years left. The centre is already conducting 500 investigations.

Last month three former SS officers living in Germany - all in their eighties - were tried and found guilty in absentia for the slaughter of 560 Tuscan villagers.

Gerhard Sommer, 83, Alfred Schönenberg, 83, and Ludwig Sonntag, 80, were convicted of massacring the civilians at Sant'Anna di Stazzema on August 12 1944, at the trial in Italy.

However, it is not clear if the men can be extradited from their homes in Germany, where a criminal investigation has been launched, to serve their sentences in Italy.

The trial was a landmark as Italy has only investigated a handful of the estimated 400 incidents in which 15,000 civilians were killed by Nazis and Italian fascists.

Thousands marched in Paris yesterday to protest at a recent increase in anti-semitic attacks. The march was organised after Jewish sites were spray-painted with swastikas and other anti-semitic graffiti.

Guardian, May 17, 2004