Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal disclosed today that 300 major German war criminals are still in hiding on the Latin American continent and in Communist-bloc countries along with some 3000 minor former Nazis. Wiesenthal made his announcement in a taped interview made available here as German authorities began to move on reports that Hitler’s deputy Martin Bormann, was still alive and apparently doing quite well in South America.
These people “have unknown sources of financing and unlimited means,” Wiesenthal said, adding that obstructive factors in bringing them to final justice is, in part, due to “attrition,” a phrase that the former Auschwitz inmate uses to describe the fact that both murderers and witnesses are simply dying off.
PAYS RESPECTS TO ALLENDE
While expressing his “great respect” for Chilean President Salvador Allende, Wiesenthal castigated other Latin American lands, particularly Paraguay, where, he said, police protection for Nazi criminals “was widespread.” Wiesenthal said he was currently working on “three hundred cases” despite continuing threats to his life.
He said there was no punishment to fit the crime of genocide. “Punishment has only a symbolic meaning and in my eyes is not a measure of prime importance. The important factor is the legal proceedings–the trial,” Wiesenthal said. “This has historical importance and serves as a warning to the murderers of tomorrow.”
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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.
