Greece to allow hunt for Nazi criminals
Greece is to repeal a law that stops it from prosecuting Nazi war criminals, which could allow Jews from Thessaloniki to try to extradite a former SS soldier from Syria. Sources said yesterday that an amendment to the current law – with which Greece in 1959 gave up its right to prosecute Nazis – will be attached to another bill being submitted to Parliament this week. «This is more of a moral victory, since most of the people in question have died,» said David Saltiel, the chairman of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS). Saltiel said that when the amendment is voted through, the Jewish community will seek to extradite camp commander Alois Brunner from Syria, where he was confirmed to be living in the 1990s. Brunner was responsible for sending almost 50,000 Jews from Thessaloniki to their deaths but there is no recent evidence indicating he is still alive.