Erich Rajakovic turned up in Vienna today and was immediately put under arrest in connection with charges he had a key role as an Adolf Eichmann aide in the wartime deportations of 110, 000 Dutch Jews to Nazi extermination camps.
Investigating Magistrate Kurt Forstner said Rajakovic was ordered held after questioning. The Justice Ministry is investigating to determine whether Rajakovic “aided and abetted in the murder” of Dutch and Austrian Jews during World War II.
Rajakovic’s arrest climaxed a series of flights by him, a former SS officer, starting with a sudden departure from Italy two weeks ago shortly before a Milan newspaper carried a lengthy report on his Nazi background. He appeared in Switzerland and was promptly taken into custody and escorted to the border where he was expelled. Late last week, he arrived in Munich. The Bavarian Government announced he was an undesirable alien and would be expelled.
He then disappeared in West Germany and his whereabouts were unknown until he appeared in Vienna this morning. The Trieste-born former Nazi officer had Austrian nationality but the Austrians lifted that nationality last January when stories about his Nazi past began to circulate.
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.
