Wiesenthal Center Urges Germany to Expedite Einsatzgruppen Cases After its Research Helps Uncover Two Veterans of Mobile Killing Unit Einsatzgruppe "C"

September 28, 2017

Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center today called on the German judicial authorities to expedite to the greatest extent possible the cases of members of the infamous Einsatzgruppen mobile killing units which murdered close to one and a half million Jews and other "enemies of the Reich" in the areas which had been part of the Soviet Union, during the years 1941-1943.

Photo: 1944 file photo of part of the Babi Yar ravine

The Center issued its call in the wake of the revelation tonight on German television station ARD, that two of the persons on a list submitted by its chief Nazi-hunter, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, to the German government on September 1, 2014, of 80 individuals who served in the mobile killing squads (who were born in 1920 or later), are alive and in good health and living in Germany.

According to Zuroff:

"In accordance with new prosecution policy adopted several years ago in Germany vis-à-vis those who served in death camps or with the Einsatzgruppen, any person who served in any capacity in these camps or in these killing squads can be convicted on the basis of service alone, without having to prove that they committed any specific crimes. The success of this policy in the cases of Demjanjuk (who served in the Sobibor death camp), Groening (Auschwitz), and Hanning (Auschwitz) are successful precedents that should be replicated in as many cases as possible. The fact that no one who served in the mobile killing squads has yet to be prosecuted under the new policy makes the expedition of the cases of Kurt Gosdek and Herbert Waller of great urgency and public importance. We are in an urgent race against time to bring as many Holocaust perpetrators to justice as possible, and every day that passes without criminals being brought to trial brings them closer to escaping justice."

Read related US News & World Report story:
Germany Investigating 2 Former SS Death Squad Members

For more information, please contact the Dr. Efraim Zuroff at 972-50-721-4156, join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).