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Nazis Charged with Mass-murder of Jews Enjoy Freedom in Austria

February 3, 1961
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Austrian authorities have received the names of 40 to 50 war criminals all of whom are guilty of multiple murders but are enjoying freedom in Austria, a spokesman for the Vienna Jewish community declared today at a press conference.

Specific names were cited. One was Franz Murer, identified as the director of a farm organization in a Tyrolian town,Liezen.Murer was captured by the British Army and handed over to the Russians who sentenced him to 25 years on charges of responsibility for the slaying of 80,000 Jews in Wilna.Murer was released by the Russians in 1955 and returned to Austria.No legal action has been taken against him since his return.

Another identified by the spokesman was a former SS sergeant, Friedrich Engg, responsible for the murder of 100 Jews in a Polish town,Drohobysz.He too is now free. The spokesman said that Adolf Eichmann’s special unit in Austria consisted of 30 persons, of whom 13 were Austrians.Five of the Austrians were either executed, jailed or released but there is no information about the other eight Austrians.

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