U.S. investigator gives Canada tapes of alleged war criminals

MONTREAL, Dec. 26 (JTA) — An American private investigator has turned over to the Canadian government taped confessions of suspected Nazi war criminals living in Canada. Steven Rambam secretly taped interviews with 58 former Nazis. Seven of them gave full confessions that they had murdered people, including children, during the Holocaust. The 58 individuals were on lists provided to Rambam by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Working with two Israeli reporters, Rambam approached the 58 at their homes, and many readily admitted their involvement with groups that committed wartime atrocities. “I don’t think there’s a single Nazi war criminal who’s not sleeping soundly in Canada tonight,” Rambam said. “The murderers feel so comfortable, so at home and so unafraid.” Rambam and his accomplices identified themselves as academics from a fictitious university in Central America. Their findings were first reported last month in the Jerusalem Post. Voicing skepticism about possible actions Canada might take against the suspected war criminals, Rambam said last week that he would make public all the names of those he interviewed if the Canadian Justice Department did not make use of the information. Rambam expressed dismay that senior government officials did not come to Montreal last week to accept the tapes, which were turned over to low-level police officials at a news conference held at the Canadian Jewish Congress. “No one will do anything for the Jews but the Jews,” Rambam said. But the head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police War Crimes Unit said his group would examine the tapes closely. “We plan to analyze the tapes to see what they contain and will decide whether they might be used in our investigation,” said Inspector Jean Dube.