No. 3 Most-Wanted Nazi Escapes Extradition

An 89-year-old German man considered one of the most prominent Nazi war crimes suspects alive won't be extradited to the Netherlands and can continue to live in freedom, according to German officials. Klaas Carel Faber was convicted in 1947 of complicity in 22 murders and for aiding the Netherlands' Nazi occupiers during World War II. He was handed a death sentence that was later commuted to life in prison, at least until he escaped in 1952, and fled to Germany where he has lived in freedom ever since.

Faber objected to being extradited, and the Dutch request cannot be granted as his consent is mandatory due to his German citizenship. The Simon Wiesenthal Center last year elevated Faber to No. 3 on its "most wanted" list. The center says Faber volunteered for Hitler's SS during the German occupation of the Netherlands in the 1940s and worked for a death squad that carried out killings of resistance members, Nazi opponents, and people who hid Jews. "To the best of our knowledge, Faber remains totally unrepentant," said the center's chief Nazi hunter. (More Germany stories.)