Greece to change law to allow for prosecution of Nazi war criminals
30 April 2010
The Greek government has assured the Jewish community in Greece that legal proceedings against the Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner, who is believed to live in Syria and who organized to deportation of 50,000 Jews from Thessaloniki to the Nazi death camps in World War II, would soon be possible. Justice Minister Aris Kastanidis made the promise to members of the Jewish community, the head of the Greek Jewish umbrella group KIS, David Saltiel from Thessaloniki, said.
An amendment to the current law by which Greece in 1959 gave up its right to prosecute Nazis is to be voted soon. “This is more of a moral victory, since most of the people in question have died,” said Saltiel, adding that once the amendment is adopted the Jewish community would seek to extradite camp commander Alois Brunner from Syria, where he was known to be living in the 1990s. Brunner was responsible for sending almost 50,000 Jews from Thessaloniki to their deaths – 95 percent of the city’s Jewish population. However, there has been no recent evidence indicating he is still alive.
Brunner would be 98 years old today. He was a close collaborator of Adolf Eichmann and responsible for deporting more than 100,000 Jews from France, Greece, Slovakia and Austria to the death camps.
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I think that the arrest of that person is very important because the Islamic world that ignores the massacres of Jews, but credited with the first and last return to the Radio Voice of Israel, which illuminated our minds
This is excellent news. Every single one of them should be prosecuted for the atrocities they committed against the Jews. For it truly was a heart-wrenching example of how evil truly does live in the hearts of some men and the inhumanity that this fact contributes to their crimes against humanity...
Let the old bastard wallow in hell.
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Saul Panofsky, about 1 year ago
I cannnot understand how Greece, a nation renowed for its highly developed national pride could have relieved itself of the burden of legally pursuing the murderers of its own fellow citizens who also happened to be Jews, in 1959. At least now for, whatever the reason, they appear to be prepared to renounce their previous insensitivity.