Erhard Kroeger, a former high SS officer who testified at a war crimes trial in this country last week, after being assured of safe conduct, has been arrested in Switzerland, and his extradition to West Germany has been requested, it was announced today.
The chief prosecutor at Wurttemberg, where Kroeger appeared as a witness against four former Nazis accused of mass murder, said Kroeger will be charged with personal responsibility for the murder of 3,045 Jews and mentally ill persons in Lemberg, Poland, in 1941. The four defendants in last week’s Wuppertal trial were also accused of having committed their crimes in Lemberg. Kroeger had testified that he knew nothing about any killings of Jews there. Three of the defendants were found guilty and given prison terms.
Germany’s demand for Kroeger’s extradition is now being examined by the Swiss juridical police department at Berne. Kroeger is expected to contend that he is accused of a “political” crime which is not subject to extradition. He was arrested by Interpol at Zurich, where he had stopped on his way from Wuppertal, to visit a son. He makes his home in Italy.
Kroeger is accused of having had contact during the war with Heinrich Himmler and Reinhardt Heydrich, both of whom had headed the Gestapo at different periods during the Nazi regime.
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.
