Ignoring police assertions that they know nothing about the presence in South Africa of the Nazi criminal, Hans Walter Zech-Nenntwich, who escaped from a West German jail two months ago after being sentenced for killing Jews in Poland, the South African press today insisted that the former Gestapo officer and aide to Adolf Eichmann is in this country.
The Johannesburg Sunday Times came out yesterday with a report stating that the Nazi criminal had been brought to South Africa by a Nazi underground movement called “Die Spinne” (“The Webb”). The report said that Zech-Nenntwich is hiding in Pretoria. Other papers reported that the West German Embassy in Pretoria is seeking extradition of the convicted Nazi criminal, but officials of the Embassy said they could make no comment on the report.
According to the press here, members of “Die Spinne” are investigating the feasibility of using South Africa as a hiding place for hunted Nazis, believing that South America is unsafe “because of the success of Jewish agents there.” For that reason, it is believed, members of “Die Spinne,” aided by local Nazis, have decided to hide the fugitives in this country, where local Nazis would help them obtain work and hiding places.
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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.
