Having collected information with the special [information line] launched in Warsaw last June, the Simon Wiesenthal Center has started its own investigation regarding cases of ten Poles. The Center suspects them of taking part in murders of Jews, committed during WWII.

”Since the line was opened on June 16, tens of Poles have called” - the head of the Center's Jerusalem office Effraim Zuroff said PAP on thursday. On the basis of the information they have submitted the Center has decided to launch its own investigation regarding 10 persons; two of them turned out to be dead.

”Most of the events, that our informants told us about, took place in central Poland, mostly in villages and small towns - Zuroff said. He refused to give precise places and dates.
Asked to compare the numbers of people calling the hotline in Poland and other countries, he said there were considerably more informants in e.g. Latvia and Lithuania. In Lithuania files 46 persons were finally sent to the prosecutor's office, in the Ukraine - 13, and also 13 in Latvia. Similar lines have also been opened in Romania, Austria and Germany.

For information leading to passing a sentence upon a person who has cooperated with the Nazis or taken part in murders, the SWC has appointed an award of 10,000 euros. The idea [of the line] was criticized in Poland by, among others, the previous foreign minister Władysław Bartoszewski and archbishop Józef Życiński, and supported by journalist Konstanty Gebert and the Ghetto-uprising leader Marek Edelman.