Franz Paul Stangl, the ex-Nazi commandant of the Treblinka and Sobibor death camps, who is under arrest in Brazil, facing possible extradition as a war criminal, had also committed war crimes in Italy, it was charged here today.
According to information by the Jewish community of Venice, Stangl had ordered during World War II the deportation of patients at a hospital for the aged in Venice. It was also learned here through Giuseppe Fano, a Jew living in Trieste, that Stangl had been active during the Nazi occupation of Italy in the country’s northeastern section, between September 1943 and April 1945. Mr. Fano declared that a gas chamber had been built at San Saba, near Trieste, where 2,000 victims were murdered. He said Stangl had “specialized” in uncovering Jews in hiding. The Trieste Jewish community is preparing a file on Stangl for possible use in his trial whenever it takes place.
“Italian Jewry attributes great importance to the extradition proceedings now pending for the former Nazi death camp commandant before the Brazilian Supreme Court,” Judge Sergio Piperno, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, told the Brazilian Ambassador here during a visit. Stangl has been under arrest in Sao Paulo since March 2. His extradition is being sought by Austria, West Germany and Poland.
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