"Most wanted" Nazi war criminal arrested in Hungary
By Jamie Michaels |
The world’s most wanted Nazi war criminal has been arrested in Hungary.Prosecutors
in the country said Ladislaus Csizsik-Csatary, 97, was arrested
in Budapest and charged with war crimes early on Wednesday.
Accused of complicity in sending 15,700 Jews to their deaths
at Auschwitz in 1944 while serving as a police officer in
the then-Slovakian city of Kosice, Csizsik-Csatary was tracked
down by Nazi-hunters from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
After escaping a war crimes sentence in 1948, Csizsik-Csatary
moved to Canada and was only tracked down again in 1997.
Canadian authorities decided to deport him but before he
was deported, he escaped, and his location has remained unknown
for the past 15 years.
On Sunday, after a tip-off from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s
Israel director, Dr Ephraim Zuroff, journalists from the
Sun newspaper confronted Csizsik-Csatary at his home where
he has apparently been living openly, taking leisurely strolls
in the city centre.
Last September Dr Zuroff handed over a large file of evidence
to the Hungarian authorities about Csizsik-Csatary. But when
the government took no action, Csizsik-Csatary was made number
one on the centre’s “Most Wanted Nazi War Criminal” list.
Additionally, Dr Zuroff provided new material, including
his participation in 1941 of transporting approximately 300
Jews from Kosice to Kamenetz-Podolsk, Ukraine, where it is
believed almost all were murdered.
On Monday, members of the European Union of Jewish Students
demonstrated outside Csizsik-Csatary’s home.
By coincidence the Hungarian president, Janos Ader, was in
Jerusalem and met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Before the meeting Dr Zuroff wrote an open letter to Mr Ader
pressing him to support the prosecution of Csizsik-Csatary.
It may well have been such pressure that led to the 97-year-old’s
arrest this week.
thejc.com
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