Officials of the Austrian Justice Ministry indicated today that despite the absence of an Austrian-Israeli extradition agreement, former SS Captain Franz Nowak could be sent to Israel to testify in the forthcoming trial of his wartime superior, Adolf Eichmann,
They said that Nowak, who was arrested here Friday, could be delivered to Israel in time for the trial of Eichmann, scheduled to begin March 15, on charges of responsibility for the extermination of 6,000,000 European Jews.
Nowak admitted on his arrest that he was a member of Eichmann’s special staff at Budapest which organized the mass transport of Jews to Nazi murder factories but he denied he had any part in the exterminations. Nowak said he was in charge only of technical details of the transportations.
Before Nowak could be released to Israel, officials said, there would be an investigation to determine whether he would have to stand trial in Austria for war crimes.
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.