French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas apparently got nowhere when he raised two issues of Jewish concern with the foreign minister of Syria last week during a visit to Damascus.
The Syrians denied, as they have in the past, any knowledge of the whereabouts of Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner, who found haven in Syria more than 35 years ago and resided, at least until recently, in Damascus.
With respect to the mistreatment of Syria’s Jewish community and, specifically, the continued imprisonment of two Jewish brothers, Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa reportedly “took notice” of Dumas’ complaints. That is the diplomatic equivalent of “file and forget.”
The Syrian news media did not report the French visitor’s queries about Brunner or his concern for the plight of the Jews.
Dumas was to have visited Damascus in December, but was forced to postpone his trip because the Syrians were irked by his interest in those issues.
He had been briefed by French Nazi-hunter Beate Klarsfeld, who was expelled from Syria on Dec. 10 after she came to protest the official protection given Brunner.
Brunner had been living under the alias Georg Fisher in a villa on George Haddad Street in Damascus. On Dec. 15, he dropped out of sight. Klarsfeld believes the Syrians moved him to a less visible location to avoid embarrassment.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Dumas instructed the French ambassador in Damascus to speed up efforts with his German counterpart there to present a joint request for Brunner’s extradition.
The 79-year-old war criminal commanded the Drancy internment center near Paris, where Jews were herded for deportation to Auschwitz.
He is wanted by France and Germany to stand trial for crimes against humanity. Extradition requests by both countries so far have gone unanswered by Syria.
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