West Germany has denied allegations that it is dragging efforts to have Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner extradited from Syria.
The Justice Ministry is intensively seeking Brunner’s extradition, a spokesman for the ministry maintained.
Brunner, 77, was a top deputy to Adolph Eichmann and is believed to live in Damascus under the pseudonym George Fischer.
Brunner has been held responsible for the deportation of more than 120,000 Jews to death camps. According to testimony by survivors, he murdered at least one Jew on a transport from Vienna to Riga. He was sentenced to death in absentia by a French military court in 1954.
The West German spokesman strongly denied recent reports here that Bonn was neglecting its commitment to bring Brunner to justice.
The West Berlin-based daily newspaper Taz reported recently that Chancellor Helmut Kohl was not interested in Brunner’s extradition and deliberately dragged his feet on efforts to convince Syria to cooperate.
Taz also reported that Brunner acted as an agent for West German intelligence until about 1965. The government here denied the report, which was not supported by documentation.
The Syrian government has rebuffed previous requests for Brunner’s extradition by West Germany, Austria and France. The Syrians say that they know nothing about Brunner’s whereabouts.
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