THE Holocaust was not just a calculated, methodical and industrial mass extermination of Jews. Among the six million who died in Europe during World War II were many tens of thousands of Jews who were murdered by chance, because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When the Nazis let loose their satanic racial doctrines — when they signalled that a Jewish life was utterly worthless — the stage was set for brutal antisemites all over occupied Europe to torment, maim and murder Jews simply on a whim.
If the meticulous Nazi machine happened to miss anyone, thousands of private contractors were there to mop up in its wake.
It is exactly this kind of crime that Perth resident Charles Zentai is accused of, and it is in this light that the extradition proceedings against him should be viewed.
Zentai's alleged murder of Peter Balazs more than 60 years ago in Budapest was not an isolated incident, turned insignificant by time. The alleged killing of Balazs by Zentai and his colleagues, after he was caught not wearing the mandatory yellow Star of David, was symptomatic of the Holocaust no less than the concentration camps and the gas chambers. It was an integral part of the criminal lunacy that was the Final Solution.
We thus applaud Justice Minister Chris Ellison's decision to implement extradition proceedings against Zentai. In allowing the wheels of justice to move forward, Ellison and the Federal Government have rendered posthumous personal justice for Balazs, as well as symbolic historical justice for thousands of other victims whose murderers managed to escape and find refuge in foreign countries.
And while Ellison's decision does not clean the slate or erase the past blemishes of Australia's dismal record in pursuing war criminals, it has at least set a clear marker on the positive side as well.
Nonetheless, it is still far from certain that Zentai will be extradited, or that he will ever stand trial for his crimes. Although Zentai initially claimed he would be willing to defend himself in a Hungarian court, his lawyers now say they will exhaust the legal remedies at their disposal, and these are considerable.
Like the accused Latvian mass-murderer Konrads Kalejs before him, the 83-year-old Zentai might cheat his jurors and expire before his extradition proceedings have run their course.
Be that as it may, he is henceforth a marked man — infamous to all — and, at the very least, he will spend the rest of his life on bail, warding off judicial measures and legal proceedings.
Ellison's decision thus ensures that at least some punishment will be meted out for the random, brutal killing of an innocent Jew.
AJN, July 15, 2005
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