Wiesenthal Center Welcomes Cancellation by German Government of Pensions of Five Nazi War Criminals; Additional Cancellations Imminent

December 21, 2005

Wiesenthal Center Welcomes Cancellation by German Government of Pensions of Five Nazi War Criminals; Additional Cancellations Imminent

The Simon Wiesenthal Center today welcomed the cancellation by the German Ministry of Social Welfare of the pensions of five individuals who “violated the norms of humanity” during World War II, as confirmed in a report sent by the ministry to the Center’s Jerusalem office this week. The number of pensions of these World War II criminals cancelled, under legislation passed by the Bundestag in January 1998, has now reached 110 with an additional three cancellations imminent, 157 cases currently under active review and hundreds of other cases about to be investigated. 
 
During the past seven years, the Wiesenthal Center’s researchers headed by Dr. Stefan Klemp, have provided tens of thousands of names of persons who participated in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to the ministry in order to facilitate the cancellation of the pensions of such individuals. 
 
The Center’s coordinator of Nazi war crimes research, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, pointed to the cancellations as concrete proof that much can still be achieved in terms of  holding the killers accountable and denying them benefits accrued during the course of criminal activity. He called upon the German authorities to expedite the investigation of these cases to help maximize the cancellation of pensions awarded to Holocaust perpetrators. “The cancellation of these pensions are an important tool in the ongoing effort to achieve a measure of justice and to ensure that the crimes of the Holocaust are neither forgotten nor denied,” he said.  
 
For more information call 00-972-50-7214156/www.operationlastchance.org