JERUSALEM—The Simon Wiesenthal Center today urged the Croatian authorities to expedite the prosecution of Auschwitz guard Jakob Dencinger, who was discovered living in Osijek by the Croatian daily Jutarnji List late last week.

In an op-ed published on 6 Feb. in Jutarnji List by the Center’s chief Nazi-hunter, Israel director Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the importance of bringing Dencinger to justice was  emphasized. The original 2 Feb. English text of Dr. Zuroff’s article appears here.

According to Zuroff:

“One thing has to be clear and that is that people who served as guards in the largest mass murder factory in human history, and were among those wanted for that service immediately after the war, do not deserve any sympathy due to age or to frailty. The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of those who made the killing possible and old age does not turn criminals into Righteous Gentiles. And most important, the victims of that terrible camp deserve that those who participated in the crimes committed there are neither ignored nor excused.

“To its credit, Croatia proved in the Sakic trial that it was capable of prosecuting and punishing Nazi criminals/collaborators and correctly sought the extradition from Austria of Ustasha Pozega police chief Milivoj Asner, but justice can still be achieved in the Dencinger case as well, and the lessons to be derived from such a trial are especially important in the light of resurgent neo-fascism which has once again raised its ugly head in Croatia.”