Brazil’s Federal police authorities, following through on the arrest two weeks ago at Sao Paulo of Franz Paul Stangl, the Nazi commandant of the murder camps of Treblinka and Sobibor, have launched a probe in depth of all German immigrants in this country, suspecting that there may be large numbers of former Nazis and war criminals among the 100,000 Germans who entered Brazil in the last 15 or 16 years.
Stangl himself, awaiting extradition to either Austria or West Germany, is being held in maximum security prisons, being moved from one jail to another almost daily, for fear that he may be assassinated by Nazis in this country to keep him from exposing the suspected Nazi ring in Brazil.
Thus far, according to police authorities, he has disclaimed all knowledge about any organizations devoted to protecting former Nazis and war criminals. However, it was learned today, he is being interrogated minutely, on suspicion that he may know the whereabouts — either in Brazil or elsewhere in Latin America — of at least two other top war criminals. These men, widely sought throughout the world for years, are Martin Bormann, Hitler’s top deputy, and Dr. Josef Megele, the notorious “selection doctor” at Auschwitz, who chose the Jews to be put to death.
Both Austria and West Germany have requested that Stangl be extradited to stand trial for his war crimes. The Brazilian Minister of Justice has already petitioned the Supreme Court to permit Stangl’s extradition, on the grounds that he is “seriously suspected of the murder of more than 100,000 persons.” The high court is expected to rule on the Minister’s petition either late this month or early in April.
Investigating all German immigrants in Brazil, many of whom came here under Red Cross auspices during 1951 and 1952, is “a massive task,” the Federal police said today. The majority of the German immigrants had settled in the southern sections of the country, particularly in the states of Parana, Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Some of them represent in Brazil some of West Germany’s top industrial and commercial establishments, and many of them are members of various organizations of genuine religious trend or of groups masking their political orientation under religious cover. It is suspected by the Federal police that some of the German organizations act as camouflage for groups engaged in aiding former Nazis and war criminals.
These facts and fears are being emphasized by virtually the entire press in Brazil. O Globo, the daily newspaper with the largest circulation in the country, warned today that every effort must be made to find the Nazis and war criminals in Brazil, no matter how skillfully their tracks may have been covered by groups with official aims of a religious, industrial, commercial or other “innocent” character.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
