The office of the district attorney in Salonika began hearing testimony Thursday against Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner.
Brunner is believed to be living in Syria since 1950, although Syria has repeatedly denied this and refused West German requests for Brunner’s extradition.
The hearings in Salonika will also be attended by the district attorney of Frankfurt, Walter Griebel.
The West German authorities initiated the investigations taking place in Salonika, in hopes of gaining enough evidence to present Syria with a tough request for Brunner’s extradition.
The Jewish community here has urged Greek authorities to demand Brunner’s extradition.
The first four people to be heard will be Greek Jews who survived the deportations of World War II. They are Edgar Kounio, Elena Kounio, Alfonso Levy and Emilia Saoul.
Brunner, now 76, was a captain in the SS and the right-hand man to Adolf Eichmann. He is considered the most important Nazi still at large.
He is accused of being responsible for the extermination of more than 125,000 Jews from Austria, France, Greece, Slovakia and Berlin.
DEMONSTRATION IN PARIS
In Paris, meanwhile, a group of Jewish militants staged a demonstration Thursday to protest Syria’s refusal to extradite Brunner. The demonstration was held as the Syrian foreign minister ended a visit to France.
Some 20 demonstrators, mainly from the Betar youth movement, protested outside the Syrian cultural center as Farouk a-Shara was on his way to a news conference there.
After a few minutes of protest, the gates of the cultural center opened and some 20 mustachioed men came out, waving a Palestinian flag, and started to chant, “Shamir assassin,” in reference to the Israeli prime minister.
The Jewish demonstrators immediately responded with “Hafez Assad assassin,” in reference to Syria’s president.
The protesters were accompanied by Nazihunter Beate Klarsfeld, who, together with her husband, Serge, has been leading efforts to obtain Brunner’s extradition from Syria.
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