New Nazi War Criminal Search Launched
The hunt for Nazi war criminals is far from over.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is continuing their search in the 11th-hour to locate and prosecute any remaining Nazi war criminals while they are still alive.
In Berlin on Wednesday, the Center's top Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff announced the launching of what is being called "Operation Last Chance II", and that there will be new rewards of up to $32,900 for tips leading to the investigation and prosecution of war criminals.
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"Whatever can be done has to be done very promptly and as quickly as possible because time is running out," Zuroff told reporters.
“Operation Last Chance” comes on the heels of the location and prosecution of former Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk.
German prosecutors told AP in October that the successful conviction of Demjanjuk set the precedent, which allows them to reopen hundreds of inactive investigations.
Demjanjuk, 91, was convicted on thousands of counts of accessory to murder after a Munich court determined he was once a death camp guard. The court ruled that any guard at a Nazi camp whose purpose was to kill could possibly be convicted of accessory to murder.
Demjanjuk maintains that he never served as a guard and is appealing the verdict. The conviction marks the first time a suspect had been found guilty without evidence of a specific war crime.
"The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the killers,” Zuroff said.
The Simon Wiesenthal center has a Museum of Tolerance (MOT) in New York, N.Y.
According to the sites mission statement, it is “a human rights laboratory and educational center dedicated to challenging visitors to understand the Holocaust in both historic and contemporary contexts and confront all forms of prejudice and discrimination in our world today.”
