Nazi Hunters Track 'Dr. Death' to Patagonia

Death camp doctor who decapitated Jewish teen heads the list

(NEWSER) - A doctor at barbaric Mauthausen concentration camp heads the list of the 10 most-wanted Nazis sought by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, AP reports. Aribert Heim, 93, is believed to be living in South America, and has a $485,000 reward on his head. One witness recalled how the physician-butcher decapitated a teenage Jewish athlete and saved his skull for display because of his perfect teeth. More»

(AP) - German prosecutors formally charged John Demjanjuk today with 27,900 counts of being an accessory to murder at a Nazi death camp during World War II, reports the AP. The 89-year-old retired auto worker, who was deported from the US in May, faces 15 years for every count. Prosecutors accuse Demjanjuk of serving as a guard at the Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1943, but he insists he spent the war in prison. More»

Nazi hunter seeks extradition of 88-year-old accused of wartime atrocities

(NEWSER) - Germany's top Nazi hunter is seeking the extradition of a retired Ohio autoworker accused of war crimes, the Times of London reports. The investigator says he finally has conclusive evidence that Ukrainian-born former SS trooper John Demjanjuk, 88, was the man know as Ivan the Terrible, responsible for the deaths of more than 29,000 Jews at the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland. More»

1919 writing calls for "uncompromising removal of Jews"

(AP) - The founder of a Jewish human rights organization said today the group has acquired a document by Adolf Hitler believed to contain his first written comments calling Jews a threat that should be removed. Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center said the center paid $150,000 to a private dealer last month to obtain the 1919 writing, known as the Gemlich letter. At the time it was written, Hitler was still serving in the Army and had taken to riling up the troops with his anti-Semitic rants. A superior officer urged Hitler to put his ideas on paper. More»

New evidence implicates former officer in Serb slaughter

(NEWSER) - A 96-year-old Hungarian police officer has been charged with war crimes committed during World War II, the AP reports. Sandor Kepiro allegedly ordered the killing of four civilians during a massacre of 1,200 that took place in Serbia. Hungarian courts had convicted Kepiro twice in the 1940s, says the Simon Wiesenthal Center's top Nazi hunter, but the first was overturned on retrial, and the second tossed out when court documents were lost. More»