Wiesenthal Center Commends "Bild Am Sonntag" Expose` that Germany Could Have Extradited Alois Brunner from Lebanon in April 1961

August 7, 2023

JERUSALEM – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today issued a statement praising  the recent revelation by the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that West Germany could have extradited arch Nazi criminal Alois Brunner, who was responsible for the deportation of 128,500 Jews (from Austria 47,000, from Greece 44,000, from France 23,500, from Slovakia 14,000) to death camps, from Lebanon in April 1961 and failed to do so.

The report which was written by Bild am Sonntag journalists Hans-Wilheln Saure and Dimitri Soibel, revealed that a delay of eight days by the German Foreign Ministry, which failed to send the required documentation to Lebanon prevented Brunner from being prosecuted in Germany for his heinous crimes. (Brunner escaped after World War II to Syria, where he was protected by the government until his death many years later).

Holocaust historian Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Wiesenthal Center's chief Nazi-hunter, welcomed the revelation which corroborates the harsh criticism of West Germany's record in prosecuting the perpetrators of the Holocaust.

According to Zuroff : "Of the 120,000 Nazis indicted for Holocaust crimes in West Germany, less than 7,000 were convicted and punished. The findings of Bild am Sonntag present an excellent example of the failures of the West German authorities to maximize the punishment of those responsible for the Shoa.”

For additional information please contact the Israel Office of the Wiesenthal Center: Tel: 972-2-563-1274 or Tel: 972-50-721-4156, follow the Center on Facebook, or @simonwiesenthal and @EZuroff for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations 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).