Rumors that Brazilian officials might release Franz Stangl, the long-sought commandant of the Treblinke and Sobibor Nazi death camps, spurred action today by various organizations in Israel of survivors of the Nazi holocaust.
Stangl, who was captured in Sao Paulo on March 2, has been held in protective custody while Brazilian authorities considered requests for his extradition by West Germany and Austria, where Stangl is on an official list of wanted Nazi war criminals. Reports emerged today from Brazil that Stangl might be released because the Brazilian 20 year statute of limitations on such crimes applies to him.
The Israeli Organization of Partisans, the Fighters Against Nazism, and Survivors of Concentration Camps appealed today to the Brazilian Ambassador in Brazil to prevent Stangl’s release. The organizations asked the envoy to receive a delegation of their members to give him a detailed and formal request. The Association of Survivors said it planned to appeal to all European anti-Nazi groups to seek to arouse public opinion against any possible release of Stangl.
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