Vilnius, Lithuania, July 8--(AP) A Jewish human rights group announced Monday
that it will offer Lithuanians a $10,000 reward for information
that helps them track down those suspected of participating
in Nazi atrocities during World War II.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center said it will publish a plea for
information in Lithuanian newspapers this week, with telephone
and fax numbers for its office in Jerusalem as well as
numbers for the local Jewish community and the prosecutor's
office. Similar actions were planned for the neighboring
Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia, the group said.
Chief Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff said the project was unveiled
in Lithuania to underline the criticism that the former Soviet
republic has had a poor record in tracking suspected Nazis
and collaborators since it regained independence in 1991. "Prosecution
of war crime suspects is very far from satisfactory," he said at a news conference. "I hope these phones will start ringing when we make them public. This offer should
change the situation dramatically."
More than 90 percent of Lithuania's 240,000-person prewar
Jewish community perished during the 1941-44 Nazi occupation.
Historians say hundreds or possibly thousands of Lithuanians
collaborated in murdering Jews.
Simonas Alperavicius, a leader of the country's current 5,000-member
Jewish community, welcomed the offer, saying any information
received could be "crucial
in building evidence against those who killed Jews in Lithuania."
Government officials were not available for comment, but
member of parliament Kazys Bobelis expressed concern that
the offer "may
spark a flood of hoax information." "I'm afraid some people may use this to settle scores with someone they dislike," Bobelis said.
After regaining independence in 1991, Lithuania, a nation
of 3.5 million people, promised to pursue, indict and try
those who participated in the massacre of Jews under Nazi
rule, but only one man has been convicted and no suspects
have spent time in prison.
URL: http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=11561&intcategoryid=2
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