November 29, 2005
A former Nazi commander was actively involved in massacres of Slovak civilians at the end of World War II, a prosecutor has argued in his closing arguments at the Munich trial against Ladislav Niznansky, 88. Niznansky faces a possible life sentence if convicted of 164 counts of murder in three massacres in early 1945, which followed a failed uprising against Slovakia’s pro-Nazi government. A former Slovak army captain, who at first supported the revolt, Niznansky changed sides after his capture and took charge of the Slovak section of a Nazi unit 'Edelweiss' which hunted resistance fighters and Jews. Though Niznansky has said he was forced into Edelweiss and did not actively participate in its actions, the prosecutor pointed out that the defendant earned an Iron Cross 1st Class medal. In one attack, Niznansky is said to have set up an execution squad that killed 18 Jewish civilians found hiding in three bunkers. After the war, Niznansky was sent to Vienna to spy for the communist authorities and then became a double agent for US intelligence, according to his lawyer Steffen Ufer. By 1962, Niznansky had moved to Germany where he worked for US-financed 'Radio Free Europe'.
