Copper
09-27-2008, 09:09 AM
THE Sun has confronted Europe’s most wanted Nazi war criminal at his Hungarian bolthole.
Dr Sandor Kepiro, 94, is accused of aiding the massacre of at least 2,000 innocents during the Second World War.
Now living near a SYNAGOGUE in Budapest, he insisted to us: “I sleep well at night.”
When I asked if it was time to face justice, his bloodshot blue eyes narrowed and his fingers jabbed the air as he snapped: “Understand, I’m not interested in what you are saying. I’m not interested in what anybody is saying.”
The former Hungarian gendarme — who fled to Argentina after the war — then told me: “The court will decide. The court.”
Kepiro, wearing a flat cap and grey sweatshirt, may one day get his wish.
Serbian war crime prosecutors announced on Wednesday that they want to extradite him for acts of genocide.
He is accused of playing a significant part in the murder of thousands of Jews and Serbs by the Nazis’ Hungarian allies during the so-called Great Raid in Novi Sad, Serbia, in 1942.
Civilians — including children — were rounded up at gunpoint and pushed through holes in the ice of the frozen river Danube.
Some had been shot dead but others were still alive when they were herded into the icy river.
Last night Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff, head of Jerusalem’s Simon Wiesenthal Center, said: “The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrators.
“Every victim deserves that the effort be made to bring people guilty of genocide to justice.”
We caught up with Kepiro outside his flat in the Hungarian capital as the prosecutors made their announcement.
Now grey-haired and walking with a stoop, Kepiro, who denies aiding genocide, seems physically fit, mentally lucid and far from cowed.
When I asked through a translator if he had blood on his hands, he told me: “There is nothing.”
We confronted the doctor of law as he took a stroll in the up-market Old Buda district of the city.
Neighbours say Kepiro is a cheery figure who enjoys life and is thought to be financially secure. One middle-aged woman said: “He often organises parties for other people in the flats.”
Living a mile away on the other side of the Danube from Kepiro is one of the traumatised survivors of the Great Raid.
The 71-year-old — still too frightened to have his name published 63 years after the war — has a fading photo of himself at five clutching his dad’s hand in Novi Sad shortly before the genocide.
His voice faltering with emotion, the Jewish grandfather said last night: “I’m not surprised Kepiro sleeps well. After all, he’s outlived not only those that died but many of the survivors as well.”
The elderly ex factory worker revealed: “I remember those dark days so well. The Hungarian gendarmes came for my parents and me in the night.
“It was freezing — around minus 20°C — and we were herded from our home towards the Danube.
“As we shuffled nearer the river I could hear gunshots ahead. People, including children, were being shot and thrown in the river.
“We were just 100 metres from the water when an order came to stop the killing. It was a miracle but there had already been much bloodshed.”
A Jewish Hungarian Holocaust expert, who does not want to be named, said last night: “It was a typical Nazi atrocity — brutal and efficient. In the morning the ice holes had frozen over. There was no blood and no sign of bodies.”
The elderly survivor — whose father later perished in a Nazi labour camp in Hungary — is eager for Kepiro to face justice. He insisted: “Of course he should be sent to court. It doesn’t matter if he’s 94 or over 100.”
Serbian prosecutors have lodged a request for an investigation against Kepiro with the Belgrade war crimes court.
The move, following pressure from Nazi hunter Zuroff, is the first step towards a trial.
Prosecutors said the Serbian justice ministry should request his extradition from Hungary once an investigative judge has completed the requested probe.
A statement said: “The prosecution estimated the suspect had consciously taken part in the murder of at least 2,000 Jews and Serbs in Novi Sad during a raid on January 20-23 in 1942.”
Yesterday a spokesman for the Hungarian General Prosecutors Office declined to comment.
Kepiro was convicted in 1944 for aiding the massacre — but was pardoned when Nazi Germany overran Hungary that year.
Kepiro moved to Austria. In 1946 it is alleged he was convicted again while not in court, although Hungarian records have been lost.
Kepiro then fled to Argentina. Many Nazis – including Gestapo leader Adolf Eichmann – went to South America on the so-called Rat Run.
Uki Goni, an expert on the exodus, said last night: “There is no record of Kepiro’s entry in Argentina. It looks like he had a new identity. Argentina was generous to suspected war criminals.”
Arriving in August 1948, he married and started a weaving business. Half a century later he secretly returned home after being assured he would not face punishment. There was public outcry when he was found in Budapest.
His whereabouts were revealed following a tip to Nazi hunters that a Hungarian immigrant living in Scotland had spoken of his time under Kepiro’s command.
In a letter to his friend in Scotland, he wrote: “We have survived and remained what we were: We have never forgotten our Fatherland and the gendarmerie.”
A photo of a young man in uniform, staring unwaveringly at the camera was enclosed — unmistakably Kepiro.
Despite his alleged crimes, Kepiro managed to pass through British customs to visit Scotland in June 2003. When I challenged him about the trip, he just said: “I had something to do there.”
In 2007 a Hungarian court ruled Kepiro’s 1944 conviction and ten-year sentence on a disloyalty charge to Hungary cannot be enforced due to legal complications following the German invasion.
Kepiro tops the Wiesenthal Center’s list of the most wanted Second World War criminals in Europe.
Only concentration camp doctor Aribert Heim, known as Dr Death, and SS camp guard John Demjanjuk head Kepiro in the global list.
Heim, who killed hundreds with lethal injections, is thought to be in Chile or Argentina.
Demjanjuk, accused of being the infamous Ivan The Terrible extermination camp guard, is in the US.
The Sun found Milivoj Asner, the fourth most wanted Nazi, boozing alongside Croatia football fans at Euro 2008 in Klagenfurt, Austria, in June. Aged 95, he is accused of helping deport hundreds of Jews, Serbs and gipsies to death camps from 1941 to 42, but dodged justice because Austrian officials deemed him too infirm to face charges.
Last night Kepiro was believed to be at his flat just a few yards from the Danube — the river that once ran red with the blood of the poor innocents of Novi Sad.
Dr Sandor Kepiro, 94, is accused of aiding the massacre of at least 2,000 innocents during the Second World War.
Now living near a SYNAGOGUE in Budapest, he insisted to us: “I sleep well at night.”
When I asked if it was time to face justice, his bloodshot blue eyes narrowed and his fingers jabbed the air as he snapped: “Understand, I’m not interested in what you are saying. I’m not interested in what anybody is saying.”
The former Hungarian gendarme — who fled to Argentina after the war — then told me: “The court will decide. The court.”
Kepiro, wearing a flat cap and grey sweatshirt, may one day get his wish.
Serbian war crime prosecutors announced on Wednesday that they want to extradite him for acts of genocide.
He is accused of playing a significant part in the murder of thousands of Jews and Serbs by the Nazis’ Hungarian allies during the so-called Great Raid in Novi Sad, Serbia, in 1942.
Civilians — including children — were rounded up at gunpoint and pushed through holes in the ice of the frozen river Danube.
Some had been shot dead but others were still alive when they were herded into the icy river.
Last night Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff, head of Jerusalem’s Simon Wiesenthal Center, said: “The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrators.
“Every victim deserves that the effort be made to bring people guilty of genocide to justice.”
We caught up with Kepiro outside his flat in the Hungarian capital as the prosecutors made their announcement.
Now grey-haired and walking with a stoop, Kepiro, who denies aiding genocide, seems physically fit, mentally lucid and far from cowed.
When I asked through a translator if he had blood on his hands, he told me: “There is nothing.”
We confronted the doctor of law as he took a stroll in the up-market Old Buda district of the city.
Neighbours say Kepiro is a cheery figure who enjoys life and is thought to be financially secure. One middle-aged woman said: “He often organises parties for other people in the flats.”
Living a mile away on the other side of the Danube from Kepiro is one of the traumatised survivors of the Great Raid.
The 71-year-old — still too frightened to have his name published 63 years after the war — has a fading photo of himself at five clutching his dad’s hand in Novi Sad shortly before the genocide.
His voice faltering with emotion, the Jewish grandfather said last night: “I’m not surprised Kepiro sleeps well. After all, he’s outlived not only those that died but many of the survivors as well.”
The elderly ex factory worker revealed: “I remember those dark days so well. The Hungarian gendarmes came for my parents and me in the night.
“It was freezing — around minus 20°C — and we were herded from our home towards the Danube.
“As we shuffled nearer the river I could hear gunshots ahead. People, including children, were being shot and thrown in the river.
“We were just 100 metres from the water when an order came to stop the killing. It was a miracle but there had already been much bloodshed.”
A Jewish Hungarian Holocaust expert, who does not want to be named, said last night: “It was a typical Nazi atrocity — brutal and efficient. In the morning the ice holes had frozen over. There was no blood and no sign of bodies.”
The elderly survivor — whose father later perished in a Nazi labour camp in Hungary — is eager for Kepiro to face justice. He insisted: “Of course he should be sent to court. It doesn’t matter if he’s 94 or over 100.”
Serbian prosecutors have lodged a request for an investigation against Kepiro with the Belgrade war crimes court.
The move, following pressure from Nazi hunter Zuroff, is the first step towards a trial.
Prosecutors said the Serbian justice ministry should request his extradition from Hungary once an investigative judge has completed the requested probe.
A statement said: “The prosecution estimated the suspect had consciously taken part in the murder of at least 2,000 Jews and Serbs in Novi Sad during a raid on January 20-23 in 1942.”
Yesterday a spokesman for the Hungarian General Prosecutors Office declined to comment.
Kepiro was convicted in 1944 for aiding the massacre — but was pardoned when Nazi Germany overran Hungary that year.
Kepiro moved to Austria. In 1946 it is alleged he was convicted again while not in court, although Hungarian records have been lost.
Kepiro then fled to Argentina. Many Nazis – including Gestapo leader Adolf Eichmann – went to South America on the so-called Rat Run.
Uki Goni, an expert on the exodus, said last night: “There is no record of Kepiro’s entry in Argentina. It looks like he had a new identity. Argentina was generous to suspected war criminals.”
Arriving in August 1948, he married and started a weaving business. Half a century later he secretly returned home after being assured he would not face punishment. There was public outcry when he was found in Budapest.
His whereabouts were revealed following a tip to Nazi hunters that a Hungarian immigrant living in Scotland had spoken of his time under Kepiro’s command.
In a letter to his friend in Scotland, he wrote: “We have survived and remained what we were: We have never forgotten our Fatherland and the gendarmerie.”
A photo of a young man in uniform, staring unwaveringly at the camera was enclosed — unmistakably Kepiro.
Despite his alleged crimes, Kepiro managed to pass through British customs to visit Scotland in June 2003. When I challenged him about the trip, he just said: “I had something to do there.”
In 2007 a Hungarian court ruled Kepiro’s 1944 conviction and ten-year sentence on a disloyalty charge to Hungary cannot be enforced due to legal complications following the German invasion.
Kepiro tops the Wiesenthal Center’s list of the most wanted Second World War criminals in Europe.
Only concentration camp doctor Aribert Heim, known as Dr Death, and SS camp guard John Demjanjuk head Kepiro in the global list.
Heim, who killed hundreds with lethal injections, is thought to be in Chile or Argentina.
Demjanjuk, accused of being the infamous Ivan The Terrible extermination camp guard, is in the US.
The Sun found Milivoj Asner, the fourth most wanted Nazi, boozing alongside Croatia football fans at Euro 2008 in Klagenfurt, Austria, in June. Aged 95, he is accused of helping deport hundreds of Jews, Serbs and gipsies to death camps from 1941 to 42, but dodged justice because Austrian officials deemed him too infirm to face charges.
Last night Kepiro was believed to be at his flat just a few yards from the Danube — the river that once ran red with the blood of the poor innocents of Novi Sad.