The World Jewish Congress appealed today to all nations harboring Nazi criminals to turn them over for trial to the competent authorities. The appeal was issued following a report presented by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, WJC president, to the administrative committee of the organization on the cooperation between the WJC and the authorities in West Germany and Austria in tracing witnesses for trials of Nazis. Dr. Goldmann reported that about 1,000 witnesses have been traced in cases involving some 5,000 Nazis charged with participation in the mass murders of Jews in Europe.
Stressing the urgency of bringing these criminals to trial in view of the statute of limitations which comes into effect in 1965, Dr. Goldmann said that the main problems facing the prosecuting authorities is the shortage of documentation due particularly to deliberate destruction of evidence by the Nazis themselves, as well as to the difficulty in tracing the few survivors of the Nazi murders, who today are scattered all over the world.
The WJC appealed to all nations to cooperate with West Germany, Austria and other authorities in extraditing Nazi criminals who have enjoyed immunity from such action.
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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.