Wiesenthal Center Welcomes Renewed Efforts to Prosecute Majdanek Death Camp Guards and Urges Expedition of these Cases

May 22, 2014

Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center today welcomed the recent announcement by Germany's leading Nazi war crimes prosecutor Kurt Schrimm that approximately twenty individuals who served as guards at the Majdanek death camp could face prosecution in the coming months. In a statement issued here by its chief Nazi hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center noted the significant progress being made in Germany during the past months to maximize efforts to bring death camp guards to justice.

According to Zuroff:

"The conviction of Sobibor SS guard Ivan Demjanjuk in Munich in 2011 has led to a very welcome and dramatic increase in the number of Holocaust perpetrators being investigated and recommended for prosecution in Germany. We urge the German authorities to expedite these cases in view of the advanced age of the suspects in order to maximize justice, while it is still possible to do so in many of these cases."

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