Acting on information gleaned from the files of the former East German secret police, German authorities will charge some 25 people with Nazi war crimes, according to the World Jewish Congress.
The charges will be initiated by the state prosecutor’s office in the central German city of Ludwigsburg as the result of research into millions of documents of Nazi war criminals that had been held in the archives of the Stasi, the secret police of the former East Germany.
But because of the age and physical condition of the 25 people set to be charged, it is unlikely that all will be brought before a German court, said WJC Executive Director Elan Steinberg.
“We’re not likely to see many charges brought before the courts soon,” Steinberg said.
In the past, German officials have delayed the prosecutions of suspected Naze war criminals because of the failing health of those charged.
The office handling such prosecutions is understaffed and underfinanced by the German government, Steinberg said. He noted that only on person has been assigned the task of combing through the millions of documents comprising the Stasi archives.
According to the WJC, the documents indicated that 50 and 70 citizens from both sides of the formerly divided Germany had been blackmailed by the Stasi because of war crimes they had committed a half-century ago.
Some historians have reportedly suggested that the archives contained the names of some leading West German government officials and business leaders and that some of them may have been blackmail targets.
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