Efraim Zuroff
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| Efraim Zuroff | |
.jpg) Efraim Zuroff in 2007
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| Born | 1948 New York, USA |
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| Residence | Efrat, Israel |
| Nationality | American, Israeli |
| Ethnicity | Jewish |
| Citizenship | USA, Israel |
| Education | Ph.D. |
| Alma mater | Yeshiva University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| Occupation | Historian |
| Known for | Nazi hunter |
| Title | Dr. Efraim Zuroff |
| Religious beliefs | Judaism |
| Children | 4 |
Efraim Zuroff (born 1948 in New York) is an Israeli historian of American origin, who has played an important role in the efforts to bring Nazi war criminals to justice during the past 28 years, thereby earning the title of "the last Nazi hunter." Zuroff is the director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center office in Jerusalem, is the coordinator of Nazi war crimes research worldwide for the Wiesenthal Center and the author of its annual (since 2001) "Status Report" on the worldwide investigation and prosecution of Nazi war criminals. He is especially notable for having been involved in the exposure, extradition to Croatia, and conviction in Zagreb of former Jasenovac commandant Dinko Šakić, who was found living in Argentina.
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[edit] Early life
Born in New York, Zuroff moved to Israel in 1970 after completing his undergraduate degree in history (with honors) at Yeshiva University. He obtained an M.A. degree in Holocaust studies at the Institute of Contemporary Jewry of the Hebrew University, where he also completed his Ph.D., which chronicles the response of Orthodox Jewry in the United States to the Holocaust and focuses on the rescue attempts launched by the Vaad ha-Hatzala rescue committee established by American Orthodox rabbis in 1939. In 2000, Yeshiva University Press and KTAV Publishing House published his study of the history of the Vaad ha-Hatzala, which was awarded an Egit Grant for Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Literature by the Israeli General Federation of Labor (Histadrut) and also received the 1999-2000 Samuel Belkin Literary Award for the best book published by a Yeshiva University alumnus in the field of Jewish studies.
[edit] Work
In 1978, he was invited to be the first director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, where he played a leading role in establishing the Center’s library and archives and was historical advisor for the Center’s Academy award-winning documentary Genocide. He returned to Israel in 1980, where he served as a researcher for the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations. His efforts assisted in the preparation of cases against numerous Nazi war criminals living in the United States.
In 1986, his research uncovered the postwar escape of hundreds of Nazi war criminals to Australia, Canada, Great Britain and other countries, and he rejoined the Wiesenthal Center to coordinate its international efforts to bring Holocaust perpetrators to justice. These efforts have influenced the passage of special laws in Canada (1987), Australia (1989) and Great Britain (1991) which enable the prosecution in those countries of Nazi war criminals.
Since the dismemberment of the Soviet Union and the fall of Communism, Zuroff has played a major role in the efforts to convince Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia and other post-Communist societies to confront the widespread complicity of their nationals in the crimes of the Holocaust and to prosecute local Nazi collaborators. His public advocacy on these issues has been instrumental in the submission by Lithuania and Latvia of indictments (Lileikis, Gimzauskas, Dailide) and/or extradition requests (Kalejs, Gecas) against local Holocaust perpetrators.
In 1991, he exposed the rehabilitation of Nazi war criminals in Lithuania and led the campaign to stop this process. Zuroff was appointed by the then Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to serve on the joint Israeli-Lithuanian commission of inquiry established to deal with this issue, which has succeeded to date in achieving the cancellation by the Lithuanian authorities of 47 rehabilitations granted to individuals who had participated in the murder of Jews during the Holocaust. In 2000 he exposed the rehabilitations granted by the government of Latvia to Nazi war criminals and has led the efforts to cancel these pardons.
Zuroff played an important role in the exposure, arrest, extradition and prosecution of Dinko Sakic, the former commandant of the Croatian concentration camp Jasenovac. In early October 1999, Sakic who lived for more than 50 years in Argentina, was sentenced in Zagreb to 20 years’ imprisonment for his crimes in the first-ever trial of a Nazi war criminal in a post-Communist country.
In his book Occupation: Nazi-Hunter; The Continuing Search for the Perpetrators of the Holocaust (KTAV; Hoboken, 1994), Zuroff chronicles the belated efforts to prosecute Nazi war criminals in western democracies and explains the rationale for such efforts several decades after the crimes. The book was published in German by Ahriman Verlag. In June 1999, his activities as a Nazi-hunter were the subject of several television documentaries. The first, entitled “The Nazi-Hunter,” was produced by ZDF(German Channel 2) in 1999 ; the second, entitled “The Last Nazi-Hunter” was produced by SWR(German Channel 1-regional station) in 2004 and the third “The Final Hunt for the Nazis” by France Trois (Channel 3) was broadcast in December 2005.
His second book "Chasseur de Nazis"(Michel-Lafon: Paris, 2008) continues with the story of the renewed efforts spearheaded by Zuroff to hold Holocaust perpetrators accountable, especially in the wake of the breakup of the Soviet Union and the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, and focuses on the results achieved by "Operation: Last Chance."
In 1995 and 1996, Zuroff was invited to Rwanda to assist the local authorities in their efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of the genocide which took place in that country in spring 1994, and he has served as an official advisor to the Rwandan government.
In recent years, Zuroff has lectured extensively to audiences all over the world regarding the efforts to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. During the years 1992-1999, he served in the Education Corps of the Israeli Defense Forces (reserves) and lectured to thousands of soldiers about his work as a Nazi-hunter.
Over the years Zuroff has published more than 200 articles on various topics relating to the Holocaust, as well as other issues of concern in the Jewish world. His publications have appeared in scholarly journals such as Yad Vashem Studies, Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual, Jewish Political Studies Review, and American Jewish History, as well as in the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Jerusalem Post, Tikkun, Jerusalem Report, Maariv, Haaretz, Yediot Achronot, Eretz Acheret, Jewish Chronicle and other publications.
In 2002, together with Aryeh Rubin, the founder of the Targum Shlishi Foundation of Miami, Florida, he launched Operation Last Chance, which offers financial rewards for information which will facilitate the prosecution and punishment of Nazi war criminals. To date, the project has been initiated in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia (all in 2002); Poland, Romania, Austria (2003); Croatia, Hungary (2004) and Germany (2005). To date, it has yielded three arrest warrants, two extradition requests, and numerous criminal investigations. Recently, Sándor Képíro, was identified as the world's oldest war criminal in Budapest on September 30, 2006. On January 15, 2008, the prize was increased from $10,000 to $25,000.[1] Charles Zentai, who is accused of murdering an 18-year-old Jew, was exposed by Dr. Zuroff and is currently fighting extradition from Australia to Hungary.[2]
In 2006, his exposure in Budapest of convicted but unpunished Hungarian Nazi war criminal Dr. Sandor Kepiro, who was among the officers responsible for the mass murder of approximately 2, 000 civilians in the city of Novi Sad, led to a criminal investigation against him and focused attention on the highly-significant role played by Hungarian collaborators in Holocaust crimes.
On July 6, 2008, Zuroff headed to South America as part of a public campaign to capture Aribert Heim.[3] He elaborated on July 15, 2008 that he was sure Heim was alive and the groundwork had been laid to capture him within weeks.[4]
Zuroff, who continued the hunt for the Nazi war criminal Aribert Heim after the death of Simon Wiesenthal in 2005, has been lukewarm in his reaction to the reported death of Heim in Cairo in 1992. He observed in February 2009 that:
| “ | There's no body, no corpse, no DNA, no grave...Keep in mind these people [the Nazi war criminals] have a vested interest in being declared dead - it's a perfectly crafted story; that's the problem, it's too perfect[5] | ” |
Zuroff concedes, however, that Heim had undoubtedly lived in hiding in Egypt.[6] Aribert Heim had reportedly killed "hundreds of inmates at the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria by injecting gasoline into their hearts and performing surgery and severing organs without anaesthesia" notes Zuroff.[7]
[edit] Honors and Criticism
In Croatia, Zuroff is often accused of anti-Croat behaviour and overracting about the country's neo-ustashism.[8]. In his statements, he often identifies any appearance of Ustashe symbols as call for NDH.[9][10]
In recognition of his efforts as a Nazi-hunter and Holocaust scholar, he was nominated by Serbian President Boris Tadic and the members of parliament of the Democratic Party of Serbia as a candidate for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize[11].
On January 22, 2009, Zuroff was granted the honorary citizenship of the Serbian city of Novi Sad, in appreciation for the exposure of Sándor Képíro, who helped organize the murder of the city's Jews.[12]
[edit] Personal life
He currently resides with his wife in Efrat. They have four children and five grandchildren.
[edit] References
- ^ Der Spiegel
- ^ "Zentai loses appeal against extradition hearing". ABC Online. 2007-04-16. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1898321.htm. Retrieved on 2007-04-16.
- ^ "Nazi doctor 'is alive in Chile'". BBC. 2008-07-08. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7496715.stm. Retrieved on 2008-07-08.
- ^ "SS doctor 'still alive in Chile'". BBC News. 2008-07-15 accessdate=2008-07-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7506679.stm.
- ^ Nazi hunters' doubt over 'death' February 5, 2009, BBC News
- ^ Nazi-hunters cast doubt over Heim death reports International Herald Tribune, February 5, 2009
- ^ Nazi-hunters cast doubt over Heim death reports International Herald Tribune, February 5, 2009
- ^ http://amac.hrvati-amac.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1409&Itemid=192
- ^ http://www.monitor.hr/2008/08/19/efraim-zuroff-bleiburg-je-jedno-veliko-ustasko-slavlje.html
- ^ http://www.ultimatum.20m.com/8_ultimatum8/8_1dos_zp2.htm
- ^ The Norway Post
- ^ Source: Jerusalem Post
