Flashbacks to the past

One would think that, in a perfect world, Nazi-hunting, as a profession, would be an antiquated and unnecessary profession. Of course, given the plethora of war criminals from other conflicts that remain at large and, more often than not, given refuge by countries that fail to grasp the significance of prosecuting them, war criminal-hunting remains highly important.

Sometimes, though, hopes are dashed by realities, and this story tells a very horrific and nasty tale. Aribert Heim, an Austrian-born doctor who joined the Nazi Party in 1935, and who later conducted grotesque medical experiments at a number of concentration camps during the Second World War, was once considered to be still at large. Now, it is alleged, he died in 1992, while living in Cairo. Yet there remains an unclaimed bank account in Germany, also in Heim's name; his relatives cannot claim it until there is proof of its owner's death. Thus far, it has remained untouched, making it ever so possible that this old killer is still alive, somewhere.

Heim was detained for a time by the U.S. Army after the war, but made it out. I remember researching that Dr. Josef Mengele -- another Nazi doctor and experimenter nicknamed "Dr. Death" -- was held by the American authorities for two months, under his own name, after the war -- had similar luck in evading the authorities. Anyone interested in reading the full story about this particular case should check out Gerald Posner and John Ware's biography. Adolf Eichmann also spent time in an American-run internment camp, from where he escaped in 1946, though he was using an alias, I believe, since his name began to appear at the Nuremberg trials then underway very frequently.

It was thought, for much of the time, that Heim was living somewhere in South America -- the same destination for thousands of ex-Nazis/fascists following 1945, given that the regimes there, like those of Juan Peron and Alfredo Stroessner, were more than friendly to these individuals. Peron apparently set aside 10,000 blank Argentine passports for the use of former Nazis. The likes of Eichmann, Mengele, Rauff, Stangl, Pavelic and others all come to mind.

This will be a fascinating, albeit spooky development to watch. Consider this older, but still relevant piece about the world's remaining war criminals from the Second World War, and you will find that the number is still not unsubstantial. Let it be a lesson, however, given that these initiatives are a last push to get those still remaining at large, in the current climate: Nazi and/or fascist crimes should not hold exclusivity over the war criminals of today. I cannot help but lament that the vigour and outrage surrounding the capture of criminals from the Second World War is often markedly different from pursuing the likes of Ratko Mladic and company.