Two Nazi Hunters Skeptical About New Bormann-is-alive Report

Two of the most prominent Nazi hunters have expressed skepticism over reports that Martin Bormann, Hitler’s deputy, was alive in Latin America. Tuvia Friedman of Haifa, the man responsible for tracking down Adolf Eichmann In Argentina 12 years ago, and Simon Wiesenthal who heads the was criminal documentation center in Vienna, placed little credence in a claim by the London Daily Express that it had “incontrovertible evidence” that Bormann, now 72, was a prosperous businessman in Latin America.

Friedman observed that if the report proved true the World War II allies should arrange to carry out the death sentence imposed on Bormann at the Nuremburg war crimes trials. “Better he should be killed than brought back to Germany” where there are still many Nazis who would greet him as a hero, Friedman said.

Wiesenthal who has written many newspaper articles over the years claiming that Bormann was alive, said he now believed there was only a 50-50 chance that this was true. He said the latest report was “a mixture of truth and fantasy” and added, “I am very, very skeptical as there have been about 25-30 false Bormanns since the war.”

(Israel, meanwhile, has finally closed the Eichmann case with the payment of a $10,000 reward to Dr. Luther Herman, a blind attorney living in a Buenos Aires suburb, who tipped off Friedman as to Eichmann’s true whereabouts. Dr. Herman wrote to Friedman in Oct. 1959 that Eichmann was living in a Buenos Aires suburb and that his daughter was dating Eichmann’s 17-year-old son. Friedman passed the information on to the Shin Bet, Israel’s secret service. Friedman said in a recent interview, “I don’t want to take anything away from the secret service. They did a fantastic job… but they didn’t do it alone.”)