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From: "Joel Rosenberg" 
Newsgroups: alt.revisionism
Subject: Poland May Ask Syria to Extradite Nazi War Criminal
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Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 10:40:51 -0600
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        WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland may ask Syria to
        extradite Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner, who is held
        responsible for ordering the deportation of up to
        150,000 European Jews to death camps during World
        War Two.

        The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center has
        demanded that Brunner's extradition be made a
        condition of any peace deal between Israel and Syria,
        despite Syrian denials that the former top-ranking
        German officer is living in Damascus.

        A Polish Justice Ministry expert said Tuesday he had
        been told to assess whether there was a case for
        Brunner's extradition on charges of causing genocide at
        Auschwitz-Birkenau, the death camp that German
        invaders ran in occupied Poland.

        ``Poland has a legal basis to ask for the extradition of
        Brunner, because even though he was never in Poland,
        his crimes were committed here,'' Professor Witold
        Kulesza told Reuters.

        Brunner, dubbed the right hand-man of senior SS
        officer Adolf Eichman, who was executed in Israel in
        1962, is believed to be the highest-ranking Nazi official
        still unprosecuted.

        Kulesza said the Wiesenthal Center was looking at the
        possibility of extraditing Brunner to a country other
        than Israel. Damascus might be more willing to agree to
        this.

        ``The Wiesenthal Center is investigating the chances of
        finding a legal basis to try Brunner outside Israel, if
        Syria agrees to let this criminal go,'' Kulesza said.

        Brunner, now 87, was sentenced to death in absentia by
        French courts in 1953 and 1954 for heading a transit
        camp in the French town of Drancy, from where he
        deported about 60,000 Jews to the
        Auschwitz-Birkenau's gas chambers.

        He also deported Jews from Slovakia and Greece.

        Brunner is due to face trial again soon in France for
        crimes against humanity, although no date has been set.

        Kulesza said he would present his findings Wednesday
        to Justice Minister Hanna Suchocka, who will
        ultimately decide whether to ask for the extradition
        after an investigation which could prove lengthy.

        Nazi German invaders murdered up to 1.5 million
        people, mostly Jews, in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp,
        after shipping them to the southern Polish town from all
        over Europe.

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