Canadian Jewish organizations are planning concerted action to try to persuade the West German government to extend its statute of limitations on the prosecution of Nazi war criminals beyond its expiration date of Dec. 31, 1979. A delegation of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) and representatives of Holocaust survivors groups met with the West German Ambassador, Max Von Podewils on that matter in Ottawa.
The group included CJC president Rabbi Gunther Plaut, Alan Rose, executive vice-president of the CJC, and Aba Beer, chairman of the National Holocaust Remembrance Committee. They stressed the moral obligation of the Bonn government to bring Nazi murderers to justice and insisted that there could be no statute of limitations for war criminals. The German envoy promised to convey their views to his government and noted that the government and the Bundestag are deliberating on the question of the statute.
Meanwhile, the Holocaust Remembrance Committee has contacted all Holocaust committee in Canada stressing the importance of collective apposition to the statute of limitations. It urged post card campaigns, letters and delegations to the Bonn authorities and West German representatives in Canada.
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