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Newsletter : 9fax1007.txt
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>JN Oct. 7, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 185
Argentina/Nazi Commission
By Bill Rodgers (VOA-Rio de Janeiro)
An Argentine government commission investigating Nazi activities has found evidence of gold transfers and government collusion in helping war criminals settle in the South American nation in the immediate post-war period.
It has long been known that Argentina was a haven for Nazi war criminals who managed to flee prosecution in Europe and disappear in the South American nation. The most notorious was Adolf Eichmann, who was seized in Argentina in 1960 by Israeli agents, and then tried and put to death in Israel. But other, lesser known Nazi murderers and collaborators also sought refuge in Argentina in the immediate post-war period.
All this has been the subject of investigation by a government commission created in 1997. The panel, known as the Commission of Inquiry into Nazi Activities in Argentina [Comision Para la Esclaracion de las Actividades del Nazismo en Argentina - CEANA], is now ready to make its findings public after completing its mandated two years of work.
The commission, made up of some 30 researchers, examined thousands of documents -- in Argentina and abroad -- to learn more about Nazi activities. Commission coordinator Ignacio Klich says the panel looked into three broad areas: "The first one dealing with looted assets that may have come to Argentina, whether by gold or by way of artwork. A second theme was to arrive at a more trustworthy estimate of the number of war criminals that settled in Argentina and the conditions that made this possible. And, thirdly trying to assess the impact of Nazism and the influx of Nazis and other war criminals had on Argentina's political culture, society and government."
Argentina became a post-war haven for Nazis mainly because of one man, Juan Domingo Peron. A key participant in a 1943 coup that brought the military to power, Peron later was elected president in 1946 and governed the country until he was overthrown in 1955. A pro-Nazi sympathizer during the war, Peron and his government later smoothed the way for Germans and pro-Nazi collaborators to settle in Argentina after 1945.
In all, the commission says 180 war criminals, including men like Adolf Eichmann and Josef Mengele, came to Argentina at one time or another. These 180 people, Klich says, are individuals who had specific war-crime charges leveled against them in other countries. Among them, he says, were a large number of Nazi collaborators from Eastern Europe.
Another key finding by the commission involves the transfer of looted Nazi gold. While much less gold came to Argentina than to Switzerland, CEANA did find evidence of a 200-kg shipment into the South American nation by members of Croatia's pro-Nazi Ustashe government. Some of this looted gold consisted of jewelry -- presumably seized from Jews and other victims of Nazi persecution in the former Yugoslavia.
The Commission plans to make its conclusions public in the coming weeks, both abroad and in Argentina. The full report also will be available on CEANA's internet web site: www.ceana.org.arg.
Barak Warns of "Neo-Nazi Plague" After Austria Vote
By IsraelWire
Following the rise of Joerg Haider's anti-foreigner Freedom Party in Austria's parliamentary election, many Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Ehud Barak have warned of the "spread of the neo-Nazi and fascist plague."
"The rise of the extreme right must set off alarm bells among all the people of the free world who still recall the horrors of the Second World War," Barak said in a statement.
Haider's party surged to second place in the weekend election with just over 27 percent of votes, up from 22 percent in 1995, as Austria lurched to the right. "The prime minister called on all enlightened forces in the world to band together in a common effort to block the spread of the neo-Nazi and fascist plague," Barak said.
Haider, a 49-year-old populist, once praised Adolf Hitler's employment policies and termed Waffen SS veterans "decent men of character". His party's showing was front page news in Israel, home to an estimated 250,000 Holocaust survivors.
Law Suit on Behalf of Israeli Holocaust Child Survivors
By IsraelWire
In a U.S. class action suit, 50,000 Israelis who as children were forced to work as child slaves under the Third Reich, are now seeking compensation for "deprivation of childhood."
US attorney Edward Fagan filed the suit in the US District Court in New York. Fagan is demanding $75,000 per victim, separate from what they may receive in the overall slave labor settlement. In a press conference in Israel, Fagan explained that to date, no compensation has ever been paid to the children for the loss of their childhood. He said Siemens, Volkswagen, BMW, DaimlerChrysler and several banks, which he did not name, were among companies listed in the suite.
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