The Argentine government has agreed to allow West Germany to extradite to Bonn a former Nazi who has been living in Argentina since 1949, it was reported here this weekend. The decision was hailed by the Argentine Association of Jewish Survivors, The request for the extradition of Josef Schwammberger, 61, was made by the West German Embassy here.
The Jewish survivors group identified Schwammberger as a former SS officer in command of the Przemysl Ghetto and a commander of the Mielec concentration camp, both in Poland. The former Nazi, according to the Jewish group, was personally responsible for killing camp inmates.
In 1945 he was detained in Innsbruck, Austria where he was discovered by authorities to possess a great deal of stolen jewels. Schwammberger was arrested and brought before a tribunal where he confessed to his part in war crimes. In 1948, with the help of the Nazi underground aid society “Odessa.” he escaped from Landbeck prison in Austria and came to Argentina in 1949 with a falsified Italian passport. He became a naturalized citizen in 1965 and has been residing in the city of La Plata and employed there by the “Petroquimica Sudamericana” (petrochemical South American) firm.
The precise legal procedure for his extradition is still being worked out, according to reports, as well as the date for his expected transfer to West Germany.
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