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The Canadian Jewish News, Thursday, June 26, 1986-Page 5
Suii)risey(Hsapp6
■ ^\
PAUL I I'NGKN
TORONTO -
Spokcsmon for Jewish organizations have, reaet.ctl wiih surprise and disap-piiintmcnt at the decision of the federal probe on Nazi war criminals not to travci to the Soviet Union.to gatii-er.evidence (GJN June 19),
Jack Silverstone. nation-;. • al executive director of Canadian Jewish Congress, said recent developments should have, snioothed the way. for an evidence-gathering trip there.
Citing the 90-day extension of the probe's mandale to,Sept. 30 and the Sovicn agreement to the Commission's, six conditions for gathering evidence, Sijver-stbne said, these ■.'removed the harriers. There's no logical reason not to go; . "'The evidentiary trail should: be- fOlkiwed to its source."-
B!nai. B'rith president Harry Bick wrote to Commission chairnian Justice Jules be.schenes urging him to reconsider his decision. not i ng that:'' 10 re fra i n froni ..collecting all possible
evidence would be.. detri-■ niental to the Commission proc-ie^s. '.L:.^'
David Mata.s. counsel : fi)r the League .of Huiiiah Rights of B'nai B'rith. suid. the Commi.ssioh's reversal of its previous decision to go.,abroad' •"i.nakes - a mo.ckery"" ;0f the earlier decision -and of those who participated in the hearing . as to the legality ofsuch a ■ evidence-Hnding yjsit.'
Matas said the Commis- . sionwa.s being hyp<icrilical by focusing i>n a 5-.month . Soviet delay inresponding ■. to Coinnvissipn requestvto travel there, when the Canadiaii governhient waited 40 years before establishing a commission to .investigate ' Na/i \varv. criminals'. ^, w
Pointing to the cor-^ Vespondence between the Commission and. the. Soviets, 'he said letters ffinn, Canada to the Siniet Union showed, the federal probe u-as prepared- lo v isit . the Soviets in Novembei'' .1985; when ■ it.s deadline. was Dec. 30, and on May. 29. wheii its deadline was ■June:3Q.
But in a letter of June 11, the Cpmnii-ssion states
it wili not visit the Soviet Union — at a time when the deadline wa.s set at Sept; 30, more than 100 days off.
'■If it had time before, it had time with the latest S()viet offer," Matas .said.
Sol Littinan, Canadian representative for the Simon Wiesenthal Centre., said a review of the ci)r-respondehce between the Commission and Soviet officials confirms hisimpres-. sion ."the Commission Was anything but eager to go to the Soviet Union. .They took the longest.niostx-iT-: cuitous routi:.". in their discussions . about an evidence-gathering trip and ■ 'gave no indication of the time urgency Of a trip.''
Littman .said the Commission Vvas "not at all eager to go to the Soviet Uhjon." They know that would trigger vigorous opposition to the Mul-roney Government from groups of Eastern European origin, he said.
Michael Meighen.Coun-,sel to the Commission, told The CJN that despite a recent extension (Vf the probe's mandate, there, was in-
sufficient time to. do an adequate job in ilie~Sovict .Union and still complete . the time-consuming job of Writing an evaluation and . having Justice- Jules Deschehes studv and incor-
porate it in his report before! the Sept', 30. deadline!
He stated an evidence-gathering trip to the Soviet Union >yould centre only on evaluating the
credibility of 34 witnesses to the alleged Svar crimes of two Canadian residents. Meighen said the Commission already has written depositions from the witne.vses outlining the
war
BONN (JTA) -
The interior ministry reported last week that neo-Nazi organizations ifi West Germany have a combined membership of about 22.500, that. several of ihem are prone to violence and that e.xtrenii.sts on the far right have one thing in common with extremj,sts tif the .far, left— ariti-.Americanism.
The report noted that there, wei-e 78 neo-Nazi groups in.^1985. the largest being the German Peoples. Union with a membership of 12.000.
The second largest, with a ■ me mbe rsh i p o f 6,100, was led by the National
The NPD has made repeat-; ed but unsuccessful attempts in recent years to get its .candidates elected to the.bundestag and.to state parliaments.
Its one; success, the report said, wiis in the state elections of delegates to.lhe
Strasbourg-based Parlia- will on the German people ment ofEurope where the. against their own interests. NPD group.won nearly 5The i-ep<.m .said the.,3.550 of the popular vo^e. . of .West Germany's Arab ; The report singled out . "residents are affiliated two other groups, the with such groups as the' Social. Revolutionists and Palestine Liberati.on Or-.
wing extreinists denounee American "^irnperialism" and spread hostility against Americans, stationed in West Germany, the re port said. They depict . Americans here as representatives of a foreign power trying to impose its
NEW YORK (JTA) -
: Isfael's Justice Minister; Yitzhak .Mddai. disclo.sed; here that the United; Nations has agreed to cive Israel a fist of the 401)00 suspected Nazi .war crimin-;; a Is iri its archiyes and to provide the actualfiles of .any on the .list that Israel ; blight a.sk for....V ;.
Modai, who briefed a meeting of the Conference of .President.s iif Major American Jewish Qrganiz-atiiins recently, also said he .'■strongly di.sagreed'' with , those Jews;who felt it was . ■■riot proper to loudly arid vpublicly expc)se the Nazi ; past of Kurt Waldheim' ■ • who was elected president of.Austria on June 8. ■ ■■Nor do I agree with tho.se'who say we inust do nothing to annoy; the Austrian.s because Vienna is the only gateway for Jew.s who one day may , come out of the Soviet Union; It is not the only gateway — but even if it
were we have no right to keep, silent," the justice minister, said.
He did.not identify any of the Jews with whom he disagreed. But. President Chaini H.erzog of Israel, in. urging coolnes.s. and caution by Israel: in. the aftermath of Waldheirii's elec-' tion, referred to the. fact that Vienna is the first stop for Jews leaving the USSR ; to immigrate to; Israel.
Waldheim. who.served as UN . secretarv-izcneral from 1972-81, has- b«^eri linked to war crimes when he was a Wehrmac.ht of-. ficer in the Balkans during World War 11. His is one of the files corripiled'by the now defunct UN War Crimes Commis.sion and prese ntIy. i n the arch i vcs^v, Representatives; of the'i. Israeli and, Au.striart governments were given access to the Waldheim file before the first Austrian presidential elections held May 4.
Modai said Israel was promi.sed the list of files by UN. Secretary-General Javier Perez De Cuellar at a meeting recently. "I went to' sec Mr. Perez be Cuellar for orie purpose-to : end the .42 years of silence that.surrounded the UN'S files on Nazi' war criminals:,':' Modai said.. He .said he had.stressed to the secretary-general, that he wanted the names made known for the sake of the six mi 11 ion Je ws.slaughter-ed by the Nazis, not on behalf of Israel or Of• the .
. Jewjsh people.
'■I told him that the time for ' formal it ies'. and ' prO-
; cedures". was\; oyer, and that, particularly in;view of the. revelations about his predecessor, Kurt \Vald-heim, those narne.s and tho.se files must be turned; over to any nation that requests them. I was gratified and pleased with the secretary-general's positive response,"' Modai said.
two men's alleged wartime activities.
In a June 11 letter to Alexander Rekunkov, the Soviet procurator gT?iier-al, Commission counsel Yves Foriier and Meighen write that "because of the passage of time between our initial request Of ; Nov. 26,;it >vi|l not now be possible for the Commission, in the time remaining to it..'.to travel to the Soviet Union.''
The letter adds that a trip of at least one month would be required, and Ihe'Com-, rnissibii could put its re-; maining time to better use in Canada.
Matas responded by saying Deschenes, Meighen and Fortier need not make the trip thernselves^ but could appoint agents in their place. He said "the exchange of correspondence with the Soviet Union was, in retrospect, a charade" and showed "an : eagerness to seek disagreement." . A.s a result, the issue has become; the reliability of; evidence from the Soviet Union and an assertion has been created, that even, if the Soviets agree to condi-; tions set by Canadian: bodies, they may renege and not deliver;
Maias added the Com-;; mission's decision not tO" gather evidence in; the Soviet Union "tainted its credibility and...cast doubt',' on its report.
N ationa 1 -Re V01 ut iori ists a s ■ niilitarits who resorted to violerice. They have gain-, ed intluence with the
iianization. .
Accordinglto.the report. PLC dissidents opposed to Yassi^r- Arafat have failed
radicaf right, the report . to attract substantial -sup-said, port among Arab extrem-Both right wing and left i.sts in the countrv.
Democratic Party (NPD).
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NEW YORK -
The U.S. justice department has requested the assistance, of the World Jewish Congress in locating witnesses to Nazi crimes committed between -June. 1943. and November, 1944, at the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria and two of its sub-camps. Sicyr-Muenichholz (also known as Steyr) arid Linz II.
The department's Office of Special Investigations; (OSI) is in the process of gathering evidence in!connection with its investigations of suspected Nazi war criminals_resjding, in the United States. >■
OSI would like to contact survivors who can provide
information . concerning general conditions for prisoners in the Mauthausen camps and the duties and behavior of the perimeter guards with respect to prisoners.
OSI is especially interested in contacting persons who knew the French Jews Max Och-shorn,(born in 1916 in Vienna) or Leon Ax-elroud (born in 1926 in Paris) or w:ho know anything about the circumstances surrounding their deaths. Both men were < hot to death at the Mauthausen main c^mp, Ochshorn in October, 1^43i. and Axelroud irr" December, 1943.
The office is also atteriip-
ting to locate witnesses to Nazi crimes Comriiittcd between 1942 and 1944 at' the Maidanek death camp in Lublin, Polarid. It wishes to contact .survivors w h o we re ,se n t to wo r k a s slave laborers out.side: the camp, particularly those who were forced to dig peaf under the supervision of perimeter guards.
Survi vors, or those who .iriight be of assistance in locating survivors from these camps,; may com- ■ municate in any language-they chtwse and are asked to contact: Bessy Pupko. World: Jewish Congress; One Park Avw. New York.; NY 10016, (212) 679-0600.
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