Documentary exposes Nazi War criminals in New Zealand
A documentary that aired in New Zealand on Friday
featured a first look at an investigation that tracked Nazi war criminals who
fled to New Zealand after World War II and evaded prosecution. Simon Wiesenthal
Center's chief Nazi hunter, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, told Ynet he became involved
with the film after the director, John Keir, a non-Jewish New Zealander
contacted him a few years ago.
One of the Nazis interviewed in the film is Jonas Pukas,
a Lithuanian residing in Auckland since 1950. During his interrogation by the
New Zealand police in 1992, when he was 78, he recalled the slaughtering of
Jews.
"They screamed like geese, you understand. They made
bird noises, cries or shrieks," he said with a smile on his face.
"After being shot they flew up in the air."
Pukas was a member of the infamous 12th Lithuanian Police
Battalion known for slaughtering thousands of Jews during the Holocaust.
Despite of his gruesome testimony, Pukas denies partaking in the execution of
Jews. "I only heard them die, I didn't see it happen," he claimed.
Pukas died in 1994, aged 80.
Pukas' investigation was conducted by detective Wayne
Stringer from the New Zealand police. Stringer looked into a list of 47
potential suspects who may have committed war crimes and immigrated to New
Zealand after the war. The list was given to the New Zealand government by the
Simon Wiesenthal Center, an institution that set out to protect the Jews.
According to Stringer, a large number of Nazi war
criminals have lived in New Zealand without standing trial for their crimes.
Zuroff aid New Zealand failed to take legal action
against residents who were suspected of being Nazi criminals. Unlike Australia,
Canada, the United Kingdom and the US, which faced the same problem, New Zealand
didn't create laws to deal with war criminals who fled there after the fall of
the Communist Bloc.
"This sends out the worst possible message: 'No
matter what you once did. You came here, you've been law abiding citizens, so
you don't have to stand trial,'" Zuroff said.
Zuroff added that John Keir, a non Jewish
producer-director from New Zeland began to investigate the subject a few years
back. "He filmed me about a year and a half ago," Zurof said.
"But the matter is history since all the suspects have died or weren't
found in New Zealand. Currently there are no suspects living in New Zealand,
but the government's stance on the issue was outrageous. That's why the movie
is still important today."
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