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Wiesenthal Center Submits Names of Four German "Operation: Last Chance" Suspects to Central German Investigative Agency

Ludwigsburg – The Simon Wiesenthal Center announced today that it had submitted the names of four suspected German Nazi war criminals, which it had received in the framework of its "Operation: Last Chance" project, to the central German agency which investigates such cases. The material was submitted yesterday by the Center’s chief Nazi-hunter – Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff and its chief researcher in Germany Dr. Stefan Klemp to Kurt Schrimm, the director of the "Zentrale Stelle" in Ludwigsburg, Germany, who promised to carry out a comprehensive examination of the four cases.

According to Zuroff, the Center had received the names of approximately 50 German suspects since "Operation: Last Chance" was launched in Germany on January 26, 2005 at a press conference held at the Bundestag. An examination of the information submitted to the Center, yielded four cases with serious potential for prosecution, in two of which the initial information was submitted by female family members. Of the four suspects in question, two allegedly served in concentration camps and two allegedly participated in the mass murder of civilians in Eastern Europe.

"The fact that four cases are being submitted to the Zentrale Stelle is an important indication of the success of "Operation: Last Chance" in Germany and, we hope, only the beginning of the achievement of significant results. The information received from family members is precisely what we hoped for when the project was launched," said Zuroff.

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