WIESENTHAL CENTER WELCOMES OPENING IN AACHEN, GERMANY OF TRIAL OF FORMER SS HITMAN HEINRICH BOERE-NUMBER 6 ON SWC WANTED LIST

October 28, 2009

WIESENTHAL CENTER WELCOMES OPENING IN AACHEN, GERMANY OF TRIAL OF FORMER SS HITMAN HEINRICH BOERE-NUMBER 6 ON SWC WANTED LIST

Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center welcomed the opening today in Aachen, Germany of the trial of former Dutch Nazi SS executioner Heinrich Boere who is accused of the murder of three Dutch civilians during World War II as a member of the “Silbertanne” SS execution squad which operated in the Netherlands. In a statement issued today in Jerusalem by it chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center noted that Boere, who escaped to Germany soon after the war, had been sentenced to death by a Dutch court in 1949 but had been spared extradition due to the fact that he had been granted German citizenship on the basis of his collaboration with the Nazis during World War II.

According to Zuroff:
“The prosecution of Heinrich Boere sends a very powerful message that the passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the murderers and that elderly age should not protect the killers of innocent civilians. Boere’s victims and their families are just as worthy of obtaining justice today as they were right after he committed his crimes.

“We commend the German prosecutors, and particularly Ulrich Maass of Dortmund, for their determination to bring Boere to justice, and hope that the recent intensification by the German judicial authorities of the efforts to hold Nazi war criminals accountable will be continued and produce results in similar cases such as those of Dane Soeren Kam (#4) and Dutchman Klaas Carl Faber (#5).”

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