Visit by Nazi hunter turns up information
23 February 2006
By REG PONNIAH

A visit to New Zealand to publicise the search for war criminals turned up information needing to be checked out, Israeli Nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff says.

Dr Zuroff, a Simon Wiesenthal Centre Jerusalem office director, finished his three-day visit yesterday.

“Our primary purpose was to publicise Operation Last Chance which is our project to locate Nazi war criminals unknown to us,” he said.

He told NZPA he was very pleased with the response.

“We have already received a few e-mails and we have to check out the information.”

Dr Zuroff met Race Relations Conciliator Joris de Bres, and members of the Wellington and Auckland Jewish communities.

More than a decade ago, the centre sent 46 names of people living in New Zealand to the Government.

“Those were names of suspected war criminals who emigrated to New Zealand shortly after World War 2. They were submitted from 1989 to 1992.”

He said the Government investigated and had a police unit looking into the matter.

Many of the 46 people were found in New Zealand but the Government decided against any legal action, he said.

Other Anglo-Saxon democracies had found a way to bring these people to justice, he said.

There was no contact with the Government on his recent visit “as for the moment we did not have any specific suspects that we are dealing with in New Zealand”.

“If we uncover cases in New Zealand then we would meet government representatives to discuss the matter.”

The number of suspects living in New Zealand was small but it was possible that some of these individuals were involved in crime during the war, he said.

Dr Zuroff said he was able to reach a lot of people during his visit here.

“The question remains whether or not we will find any suspected Nazi war criminals whose cases require further attention.”

It was Dr Zuroff’s first visit to New Zealand. Further visits will depend on what information was received.

He said he and Mr de Bres discussed other matters, as the Simon Wiesenthal Centre was very involved in tolerance and education and in programmes to defuse racial and ethnic tensions.

“So it was important to meet Mr De Bres and exchange views and to invite him to visit the Simon Wiesenthal Museum in Los Angeles.”

Dr Zuroff left for Sydney yesterday.