Pieter Menten, a 78-year-old Dutch art dealer wanted for war crimes committed against Jews and others while serving in the Nazi SS during World War II, was arrested by Swiss police yesterday in Uster, an industrial town near Zurich. He had been the object of an international man-hunt since he disappeared from his country home in Blaricum, Holland on Nov. 14 only hours after he was to have been arrested. Dutch police believed that he had been warned of his impending arrest.
Menten, described as a multi-millionaire, was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment during the 1950s for collaboration with the enemy but no proof was brought to light at the time of complicity in war crimes. Evidence linking him to the killings of several hundred Jews and Poles at Lemberg in Galicia in 1941 was unearthed recently by the Dutch newspaper “Accent” acting on information supplied by an Israeli journalist.
It was not immediately clear whether Menten can be extradited to face trial in Holland. Swiss police said they had received no extradition request. Holland and Switzerland have an extradition treaty dating from 1895. But Swiss law provides a 20-year statute of limitations on war crimes after which a suspect cannot be extradited. However, this law can be by-passed under certain circumstances.
ARREST CREDITED TO JEWISH JOURNALIST
Menten’s arrest at an Uster motel was credited to Hans Knoop, a Dutch-Jewish journalist who wrote a series of articles exposing the former SS officer’s wartime activities. Knoop received a telephone call Monday from a Swiss journalist who spotted Menten in Zurich. He alerted the Swiss police and officers of the Dutch Criminal Investigation Division who flew to Zurich and were present at the arrest. Dutch Minister of Justice Andries Van Agt also flew to Zurich to consult with his Swiss counterpart, apparently about extradition proceedings.
Van Agt, who is expected to head the Christian Democratic Party list in next year’s parliamentary elections in Holland, came under political fire in the Dutch chamber because Menten escaped. The Chief Public Prosecutor in The Hague subsequently issued a warrant for “unknown persons” who may have tipped Menten that his arrest was imminent.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
