The director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Efraim Zuroff, implored Romanian officials to start hunting down and prosecuting Nazi war criminals still living in the country Friday.

" Romania was a satellite state of Nazi Germany and actively participated in the implementation of the Final Solution," he said, yet "not a single Holocaust perpetrator has been investigated, let alone prosecuted in post-communist Romania."

Zuroff, holding a press conference in Bucharest, wants Romania to help with the search his center started last year - Operation: Last Chance - an international hunt for the remaining members of the Nazi party responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews.

Since the inception of the program the center has received the names of 241 suspected war criminals, with the majority coming from Lithuania (184). Latvia (38), Ukraine (13), and Estonia (6) have also participated in turning over names.

Zuroff simply wants Romania to follow the lead of these countries and search for these suspects before they die. "The numerous instances of the glorification of fascist leader Ion Antonescu and recent comments by prominent Romanian officials, including President Ion Iliescu, minimizing the severity and scope of the crimes for the Holocaust and the complicity of Romanians in those crimes" cause concern and elicit a heightened sense of urgency, he said.

Iliescu caused an uproar last month when an Israeli magazine, Ha'aretz, printed an interview with the leader containing comments that Israelis charged diminished the importance of the Holocaust and of Jewish suffering.

Zuroff says Romanian compliance is a challenge that must be met. "I cannot think of a better history lesson for the Romanian society than a trial here in Romania, in the Romanian language, with Romanian judges, in front of your courts, your legal system," he said.
" This is a test -- does the Romanian leadership have the courage to bring these people to justice today?"

The center, an international Jewish human rights organization, is set to expand its search for criminals to Poland and Austria in the next month.

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