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Scott Calls for Removal of Statute of Limitations on Nazi War Crimes

April 5, 1968
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Sen. Hugh Scott, Pennsylvania Republican, asked President Johnson today to urge West Germany to eliminate or extend indefinitely the statute of limitations on Nazi war criminals “so that all who committed genocide and other crimes against humanity can be brought to justice.” In a letter to the President, Sen. Scott pointed out that many leading Nazi criminals were still at large. He said the search continues for such persons as Martin Bormann, Hitler’s Deputy Fuhrer; Dr. Joseph Mengele, who experimented on Jews in Auschwitz; Heinrich Mueller, Gestapo chief who planned the systematic annihilation of Jews at the Wannsee Conference of 1942, and others.

Sen. Scott said that less than 10 percent of known Nazi criminals have been brought to trial and many suspects are at large in South America, South Africa, Egypt and elsewhere. Unless Bonn’s statute of limitations is lifted, no new investigations can be initiated after Dec. 31, 1969, said the senator. Even the most notorious Nazis would be free from prosecution if discovered after that date.

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