dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/03/world/canada-called-haven-for-nazi-criminals.html

Canada Called Haven for Nazi Criminals

Recent news accounts of Canada's lax pursuit of accused war criminals after World War II have stirred painful memories and raised troubling questions about the Canadian Government's policies in the post-war period.

During the last week, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and NBC have shown documentaries on accused war criminals who have lived freely in Canada since the end of the war. And a family in the Toronto area tried to keep Global Television from broadcasting the CBS News program 60 Minutes tonight because it has a report identifying a member of the family as an accused war criminal although no charges have been brought against him.

After reviewing the program yesterday, the station decided to broadcast it.

For the first time the world is going to be let in on what I call Canada's dirty little secret, said Bernie M. Farber, director of community relations for the Canadian Jewish Congress.

According to Jewish organizations and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which pursues accused war criminals, as many as 3,000 war criminals came here after the war and half of them may still be alive.

The televised reports were prompted by articles in The Jerusalem Post last November. They were written by two Post reporters who falsely identified themselves as university researchers to get suspects in Canada to talk openly about their past.

One of the accused criminals the Post reporters interviewed, Anastus Kenstiviscius, a Latvian who was implicated in the deaths of more than 8,000 Jews, died last month as deportation hearings against him were starting in British Columbia. Jewish organizations had brought his presence in Canada to the attention of the Canadian Government as long ago as 1948.

This is the one case that really symbolizes Canadian war crimes investigations, said Irving Abella, a professor of history at York University, and former president of the Canadian Jewish Congress. They finally bring him to court, and the first day the charges are read in court is the day he dies. It symbolizes the whole Canadian war criminals effort and what we're up against.

The current Canadian Government has defended its actions.

I can only report what we've done during our watch, Justice Minister Allan Rock said last week. He said this Government had taken vigorous steps to start proceedings against people accused of war crimes.

We intend to continue that policy, Mr. Rock said, because we feel there is a moral obligation to do so.

Frank Dimant, executive vice president of B'Nai B'rith of Canada, said the news programs and the case of Mr. Kenstiviscius should force all Canadians to ask questions about their past.

Now the question to ask is 'Why was there this conspiracy of silence over all these years?' Mr. Dimant said. He said that not just the actions of the Government should be reviewed.

The Jewish community will have to examine itself as well, Mr. Dimant said. We need to know why there was no real activist movement in the 50's and 60's to agitate aggressively and force the Government to come to terms with this issue.

Since the war ended, Canada has only tried one man for war crimes, and he was acquitted. Charges against three others were eventually dropped.

The Government's attempts to deport suspects, rather than try them, have not been much more successful. One man was deported to the Netherlands in 1992 and one man was extradited to West Germany in 1982.

If there's one word to describe Canada's attitudes for the last 50 years it is 'apathy,' said Mr. Abella, who is researching a book on Nazis in Canada.