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East Germans Ask Syria to Extradite Nazi Suspect
Compiled by Our Staff From Dispatches BERLIN — East Germany is asking Syria to extradite Alois Brunner, a suspected Nazi war criminal who is accused of deporting tens of thousands of Jews to death camps, the East German Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. It was the first formal request for extradition of a suspected Nazi war criminal by East Germany, which is trying to establish diplomatic ties with Israel. Ministry sources said Wednesday that the East German ambassador to Damascus, Karl-Heinz Lugenheim, was to deliver the request but that it was unclear if he had done so. Syria has repeatedly denied knowledge of Mr. Brunner, who has been accused of organizing the deportation of 100,000 Jews from Germany, France and other coun- tries to concentration camps during World War II. After the war, Mr. Brunner was detained by American and British officials but kept his identity secret. He was tracked down in Syria under the name George Fischer in the late 1950s by Simon Wiesenthal, the Austrian who has uncovered many Nazis, and officially identified in 1982 by two French Nazi hunters, Serge and Beate Klarsfeld. Mr. Klarsfeld describes Mr. Brunner, who is about 78, as the most important Nazi war criminal still alive. Several West European countries have appealed unsuccessfully for Syria to extradite Mr. Brunner. He has been described as the right-hand man of Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi official who masterminded the extermination of 6 million Jews under Hitler. Speaking in Paris after news of the East German move, Mr. Klars- feld said it was possible that Syria might change its attitude toward Mr. Brunner if it was convinced it could gain economically from Western states by doing so. "Undoubtedly, by handing him over to trial, Syria could also clean up its international image," Mr. Klarsfeld said. But he said Mr. Brunner had been a long-time adviser to Syria's secret police and still enjoyed protection from them. (Reuters, AP) |
