The chief Nazi hunter of the Los Angeles-based
Simon Wiesenthal Center has been awarded honorary citizenship
by the Serbian city of Novi Sad, in recognition of his work
in exposing a former Nazi war criminal who helped organize
the large-scale massacre of Jews, Serbs, and Gypsies in the
city during World War II.
The move came at a time of spiraling anti-Semitic incidents throughout Europe
in the wake of Israel's assault on Hamas in Gaza. Anti-Israel
protesters around the world have been comparing Israel's
operation against the Islamic regime to Nazi Germany.
Novi Sad honored Dr. Ephraim Zuroff for his role in exposing former Hungarian
gendarmerie officer Dr. Sandor Kepiro, who participated in
organizing the massacre of more than 1,000 Jews, Serbs, and
Gypsies in the Serbian city on January 23, 1942.
Kepiro, whom the Wiesenthal Center
exposed two-and-a-half years ago while he was living in Budapest,
has not been brought to trial due to a lack of political
will on the part of Hungarian authorities, Zuroff said.
The Nazi war criminal, who was twice
convicted by Hungarian courts in the past, ranks third on
the Wiesenthal Center's 2008 list of most wanted Nazis.
The American leadership of the Wiesenthal
Center welcomed the honor bestowed on its Israel director,
and noted its significance at a time when "the memory of the Holocaust and the victims of Nazism has been under such heavy
attack by those seeking to besmirch the State of Israel."
"By honoring Dr. Zuroff,
the city of Novi Sad also honors the late Simon Wiesenthal
for his relentless pursuit of justice, as well as the memory
of all victims of Nazism whose martyrdom is today so readily
and cynically abused by the enemies of the Jewish state," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the center.
Zuroff said that the honor constituted
the recognition of bringing Nazi war criminals to justice
even today.
"It reinforces the important
principles that the passage of time in no way diminishes
the guilt of the perpetrators and that old age should not
shield merciless killers from being held accountable for
their heinous crimes," Zuroff said at the Monday night ceremony at the Novi Sad city hall.
He was the 11th person to receive
honorary citizenship from Novi Sad, which is home to Serbia's
second-largest Jewish community.
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