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DLANG (Don’t
Let Australian Nazis Go), Australia
In 1992, the Australian government
decided to shut down its Special Investigations Unit
responsible for investigating suspected Nazi war criminals
living in Australia. Of major concern to the Simon Wiesenthal
Center was the large number of alleged Nazi war criminals
residing in Australia and the coincidence of Australia’s
decision with the emergence of democracies in much of
Eastern Europe. With countries such as Lithuania, Latvia,
Estonia, and others adopting democracy, there would
be greater access to wartime records and new opportunities
to investigate and prosecute Nazi war criminals.
Targum Shlishi initiated and coordinated
a letter-writing campaign to Australian Foreign Minister
Gareth Evans with the objective of generating tens of
thousands of letters to the Australian government. “Bearing
in mind the surge in neo-Nazi activities worldwide,
the atrocities being committed in Yugoslavia, and the
new evidence coming out of the Baltic states, the free
world has an obligation to ensure that perpetrators
of war crimes be brought to justice, regardless of the
passage of time,” the letter stated.
In addition, Targum Shlishi provided
funds that allowed the Wiesenthal Center’s Efraim
Zuroff to travel to Australia and draw public attention
to this issue. Dr. Zuroff submitted a new list of Australian
suspects, which attracted notice and helped “to
keep the issue alive—despite government attempts
to ignore it,” Dr. Zuroff said.
Operation Last
Chance: Rewards for Justice, Simon Wiesenthal Center
 Targum
Shlishi, in conjunction with the Simon Wiesenthal Center,
has initiated a campaign to maximize efforts to bring
the remaining Nazi war criminals to justice by offering
financial rewards for information leading to their arrest
and conviction. Targum Shlishi proposed the project
and provided the core funding for it. The project is
coordinated through the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal
Center under the aegis of Dr. Efraim Zuroff.
A major impetus for this project is the
rapidly diminishing chances of successfully prosecuting
Nazi war criminals.
Suspects and witnesses are aging, and there is a lack
of political will in the countries where the crimes
occurred and the countries in
which suspects reside. Operation Last Chance seeks
to combat these circumstances by encouraging eyewitnesses
to come
forward with the promise of $10,000 rewards.
 The
program will be publicized through intensive advertising
and media campaigns in countries such as Germany, Austria,
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Poland, where Nazi war
crimes were committed with the acquiescence or participation
of the local populations. Émigré newspapers
in countries of refuge, including the US, Australia,
Canada, and Argentina, will also be targeted. The rewards
will be awarded to informants only if suspects are convicted,
sentenced, and punished by courts of law.
The project has been
launched in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, and dozens
of leads have already resulted
from the advertising and local publicity. The Lithuanian
government has initiated formal investigations into
two collaborators and private
investigations sponsored by Targum Shlishi are ongoing. Belorussia
and the Ukraine are the next target countries. www.wiesenthal.com
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