A Polish official who investigates Nazis insisted today that Franz Stangi, wartime commandant of the Nazi death camps at Treblinka and Sobibor, should be extradited to Poland from Brazil, where he is now under arrest, to stand trial in the country where his “horrible crimes” were committed.
Stangl was arrested March 2 in Sao Paulo and has since been held under maximum security detention awaiting a pending ruling on an Austrian request for his extradition. West Germany also has asked his extradition on war crimes charges.
Dr. Czeslaw Pilichowski, director of the Polish State Commission to Investigate Nazi Crimes in Poland, said Stangl was active in Belzec as well as Treblinka and Sobibor all in Poland — and that at least 1,500,000 persons were murdered in the three camps. The Polish official said Stangl was responsible for the murder of at least 700,000 persons, mostly Jews but also Poles and other nationals. He pointed out that Stangl was listed as a war criminal by Poland as far back as 1945.
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