SPAIN
A Spanish judge issued international arrest warrants on Thursday for three former SS members accused of complicity with genocide and crimes against humanity while serving as guards at Nazi concentration camps
18.11.09 - 12:24 -
A Spanish judge issued international arrest warrants on Thursday for three former SS members accused of complicity with genocide and crimes against humanity while serving as guards at Nazi concentration camps.
Two of the men, Johann Leprich and Anton Tittjung, reside in the United States. The third, Josias Kumpf, was expelled by U.S. authorities in March and now lives in Austria.
The case was brought on behalf of Spanish survivors of the Mauthausen concentration camp, where more than 4,300 Spaniards died during World War II.
National Court Judge Ismael Moreno said the evidence shows Leprich, Tittjung and Kumpf were all soldiers in the SS Totenkopf (Death's Head) Battalions and that they took part in the persecution of Jews and other ethnic groups and in the abuse of prisoners from throughout Europe.
Leprich, a native of Romania, as well as Tittjung and Kumpf, both born in the former Yugoslavia, came to the United States after the war and ultimately obtained U.S. citizenship by concealing their Nazi past.
Once the deception was uncovered, U.S. authorities revoked the citizenship of all three men and launched efforts to deport them. So far, only Kumpf has been expelled, as Washington has been unable to persuade any countries to accept the other two men.
