Sunday, December 16, 2007

News

Latest stories...

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has launched Operation Last Chance to step up the hunt for aging Nazis still in hiding. Best of luck to them. It would be good to have the last remaining ones rounded up and brought to justice. Newsday:

    Most of them would be in their 90s now, men who have kept their identities hidden for decades to escape punishment for their Nazi pasts.

    Concerns that they might succeed - and die without being held accountable - have led officials at the renowned Simon Wiesenthal Center to announce one final drive to locate elderly war criminals hiding in South America: Operation Last Chance.

    [...]

    The Wiesenthal Center's Nazi hunters have brought hundreds of war criminals to justice since World War II, and South America has been fertile ground. Permissive immigration standards after the war allowed many Nazis to create new identities in South America.

    Some of the Third Reich's most infamous names ended up in Argentina, where the government of Juan PerĂ³n aided war criminals fleeing the Nuremberg trials. In 1999, an Argentine government panel reported that at least 180 Nazis facing criminal charges in Europe had relocated there. That number, which other research groups have said seems low, does not include rank-and-file Nazis not charged individually. No estimates are available for the number of Nazis who fled to other South American countries.

The Le Pen trial has begun. Telegraph:

    French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen has gone on trial for claiming that the Nazi occupation of France was "not particularly inhumane," but the Front National founder was not present.

    Mr Le Pen, 79, was charged with conspiring to justify war crimes and to deny Nazi crimes against humanity, both violations of France’s Holocaust denial legislation.

    He faces a maximum one-year prison term, a £32,000 fine and a possible ban from holding elected office.

Peace is undoubtedly beyond reach for many Holocaust survivors, even in their senior years. Fortunately several groups are working to keep them out of nursing homes, and in the comfort of their own homes. Sun-Sentinel:

    The memories, long moved to another part of the mind, are coming back to Holocaust survivors, and they are brutal. This twist on aging is unbearable for many who survived so many years ago in the face of impossible odds.

    The Jewish community wants to keep these survivors home in the twilight of their lives. Jewish Family Service agencies in Palm Beach and Broward counties want to give Holocaust survivors in-home nursing care, housekeeping help and anything else they need to stay in their houses or apartments. The goal is to keep them out of nursing homes, where care by uniformed strangers could trigger horrific memories.

A scientist who worked on Hitler's atomic weapons program speaks to the Sunday Mail:

    In the dying days of the Second World War, the Nazis fought a desperate battle to develop the atomic bomb before the Allies.

    More than 60 years later, a scientist has revealed how he hid the secret of creating the catastrophic weapon from Adolf Hitler.

    Erwin Klinge had been hired by the dictator to create the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. But the German-born pastor - who has lived in Scotland for 20 years - and his team buried the plans to stop the Nazis aquiring the bomb.

Here's a story from last month: The globe Hitler used at the Burghoff was auctioned for $100,000. It's eerie to think that this globe may have helped Hitler plot the demise of millions of people. Fox News:

    A globe that once belonged to Adolf Hitler has sold at auction for $100,000 -- more than five times the expected amount.

    American soldier John Barsamian found the globe in the ruins of Hitler's Eagle's Nest retreat in the Bavarian Alps in May 1945.

    Barsamian, now 91, of Oakland, recently decided to sell it while he is alive so he can personally tell the story behind it, said his son, Barry Barsamian. Both Barsamians watched the bidding Tuesday at Greg Martin Auctions.

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