To the Editor:
I just came across your negative assessment of our
"Operation:Last Chance (O:LC)" ("Operation Last Chance Has
Had its Chance") which appeared in the parshas
Bamidbar
edition of Yated Ne'eman, and I want to correct at
least some of the numerous factual errors in your article and
to update you on some recent developments which seem to
indicate that your criticism of the project may have been a
bit premature. I hope that you will find a way to bring this
information to the attention of your readers, whom you have,
in my opinion, misled regarding the project.
First of all, I am happy to report that on Friday, July 8,
Charles Zentai, a former Hungarian Army officer suspected of
murdering at least one Jew and torturing others in Budapest
in 1944, was arrested in Perth, Australia and he now faces
extradition to Hungary to stand trial following the signing
by Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison of the
extradition request by the Hungarians.
In addition, it is fairly likely that former Croatian police
chief Milivoj Asner will be indicted for his World War II
crimes within the next few weeks and his extradition from
Austria, to which he escaped following his exposure in the
framework of the launching of O:LC in Croatia, will be sought
by the Croatians. Simultaneously, the Austrians are also
conducting an investigation of his crimes.
Other criminal investigations against suspects discovered in
the wake of O:LC are also being conducted in Lithuania and
Romania, and hopefully will be conducted in Poland as
well.
As for the factual errors in your article:
1. The financial reward was offered for information which
would facilitate the conviction AND PUNISHMENT of Nazi war
criminals.
2. We have received the names of approximately 380 suspects,
79 of which have been submitted to local prosecutors in seven
countries.
3. The best results have not been achieved in the Baltics but
rather in Hungary and Croatia as described above.
4. Your comment about the prosecution of Nazi war criminals
in Lithuania clearly reflects your total ignorance on the
subject. While Lithuania was part of the Soviet Union,
hundreds of Nazi collaborators were convicted and punished,
although not all were prosecuted for Holocaust crimes.
5. You claim that there is virtually no chance of bringing
Nazi war criminals to justice, but the pertinent statistics
clearly show that that is not the case. In fact, from January
1, 2001 until April 1,2005, 32 Nazi war criminals were
convicted in six different countries and at present there are
more than 1,200 ongoing investigations of Nazi war criminals
in fifteen different countries. In fact, during the past year
alone, 659 new investigations of Nazi war criminals were
started in eleven different countries. Obviously, not all
will result in trials but some will yield concrete judicial
results.
As far as leaving justice to the Almighty, we have the
fullest confidence in His judgment, yet we still continue to
pursue the criminals here on earth in order to hold them
accountable and send a powerful message about the price to be
paid by such criminals and the solidarity of Jews who
continue to seek out those who harmed our fellow Jews to
ensure that they are punished.
Sincerely yours,
Dr. Efraim Zuroff
Operation: Last Chance
The Editor Replies:
We thank Dr. Zuroff for setting the record straight.
However, these points are not relevant to our original
argument which still stands as strongly as ever.
It is true that Nazi criminals were tried and convicted
while Lithuania was a puppet state of Moscow and on that we
stand corrected. But that was at the behest of Moscow. Dr.
Zuroff certainly knows that since the Lithuanians have been
in control, for the past 14 years, the record has been worse
than dismal. Writing in 1998, Dr. Zuroff noted, "Shortly
before attaining independence, the Lithuanian judicial
authorities began to issue rehabilitations to individuals
convicted during the Soviet regime, a process which included
financial compensation and the return of property confiscated
upon conviction. . . . at least several dozen, but probably
many more, Nazi murderers were granted rehabilitation. . . .
not a single Nazi war criminal has ever been put on trial,
let alone convicted, in independent Lithuania."
Since then, there have been the two trials that we noted
in our editorial, but those took place several years ago.
Lithuania is obviously very unwilling, and even more
unlikely, to really punish any Nazis.
There are countries, like the US, which move very
vigorously and with the full weight of their laws against
Nazi criminals in their midst. They have no need of O:LC and
there is no O:LC in those countries. The countries that you
targeted for O:LC are precisely those in which there has been
little or no action against Nazi criminals, since those are
the countries which seem to "need" O:LC.
However, by the same token, those are precisely the
countries in which the "arousal of antisemitic sentiments
among the populations and governments" is likely to be
strongest and most damaging for current Jewish interests,
both within those countries (such as current Jewish
residents) and elsewhere around the world (say, for example,
in votes at the UN).
Which brings us back to the main point of the editorial.
Dr. Zuroff's worthwhile corrections do not in any way affect
the main argument of the article: in the Operation: Last
Chance countries, there are at best very limited expectations
for justice, and even less opportunity for education. Your
intended message is undoubtedly, "the solidarity of
Jews who continue to seek out those who harmed our fellow
Jews to ensure that they are punished" but what is
received by pursuing doddering old men in their 90s in
those countries — which are anyway predisposed to
believe
the worst about Jews — is rather a reinforcement of
stereotypes many have of Jews being petty and vindictive.
We must balance the dignity of the dead against the
dangers to the living. The Holy Martyrs of the Holocaust
deserve every honor. The awful Nazi criminals deserve every
punishment. But one must take into account the risks to the
living — both in the O:LC countries and around the
world —
that result from any such action.
While it is true that the rewards Dr. Zuroff cites are
real, they are too weak to balance off the greater and
likelier risks that the program incurs. Especially now that
it has had its chance and is even less likely to produce
results as time passes, it seems best to quietly terminate
it.
