Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R. NY) called here last night for increased efforts to apprehend the notorious Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele, who conducted barbaric experiments on Jewish and other inmates at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.
“We cannot allow Mengele to avoid justice,” D’Amato declared at the annual dinner of Bnai Zion at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, where he was presented with the 1985 American-Israel Award. “We are now in a race against time,” he declared. “If we don’t catch him soon, he may be free to die in bed of old age. This is a far more peaceful fate than this mass murderer and torturer deserves.”
The Senator told the more than 600 people at the dinner that he believes that “the noose is beginning to tighten around Mengele.” He said that recently obtained documents indicate that Mengele may have been living in Canada under the alias “Menke.”
CHARGES U.S. ARMY WITH BEING UNRESPONSIVE
“In June of 1962, a request for information from the Visa Control Section of the Canadian Embassy in Cologne, West Germany, to the U.S. Army Europe’s Central Registry for Information asked for any documentation they might have on Mengele, such as fingerprints or photographs,” D’Amato said.
“The letter stated than an individual named Josef Menke was living in Canada and that the Canadians had information which led them to believe this Menke might be Mengele.” But, D’Amato charged, the U.S. Army was unresponsive and did not provide the Canadians with useful information to pursue the case.
D’Amato added: “Published information leads me to believe there was official involvement by U.S. and other Allied government agencies in the exodus of Nazis from Germany after World War II. I want to know if Mengele had any official assistance in his escape from justice. If he did, I want to know who helped him. Any person who was involved in helping war criminals escape punishment must be held to account for his action.”
Last week Sen. Arlen Specter (R. Pa.) announced in Los Angeles that formal Senate hearings on the Mengele case will start in Washington tomorrow.
SITUATION OF SOVIET JEWRY IS WORSENING
Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, told the audience the situation of Soviet Jewry is continuing to worsen. He called on American Jews and non-Jews alike to join together in renewed efforts to save Soviet Jewry and end its persecution by the Soviet authorities.
Kalman Sultanik, a member of the World Zionist Executive and a veteran Zionist leader, received the Bnai Zion’s 1985 Dr. Harris Levine Award for his contribution and dedication to public Jewish life.
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.
