Most wanted Nazi fugitive hiding in Germany
By IANSMonday, July 5, 2010
LONDON - A member of German dictator Adolf Hitler’s Nazi party who escaped from a Holland prison after being convicted of mass murder in 1947 has been hiding in Germany, a report said.
Evil Klaas Faber, 88, looked like an ordinary old age pensioner. But his white hair and glasses hide a shocking past as a bloodthirsty killer who volunteered for Hitler’s notorious SS party and a roving Gestapo death squad, The Sun reported.
Faber was sentenced to death after being convicted of war crimes in 1947. But his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
Faber was one of seven Nazi officers who escaped from Breda prison in Holland on Boxing Day 1952. Since then, Germany has rejected the demands by Britain and other countries to hand over Faber - listed as the fifth most-wanted Nazi fugitive.
After years as an anonymous office worker at Audi, Faber now enjoys a cosy retirement relaxing in local parks and going on shopping trips. Neighbours say the dad of three is quiet but friendly and polite, the report said.
His trial heard he was an enthusiastic Nazi who volunteered to join the SS in 1940, then travelled around northern Holland ruthlessly slaughtering Jews and Dutch resistance fighters.
He rose to become an officer with the notorious SD secret police and worked for the Gestapo as an executioner at Westerbork concentration camp, where teenage diarist Anne Frank was held.
He was convicted of murdering at least 22 victims, but the court heard he personally carried out mass shootings and experts believe the real toll was much higher.
Faber became a German in 1943 under the “Fuhrer’s Law” - a personal decree granting German citizenship to foreign Nazi volunteers.
Holocaust campaigners have urged Germany to stop protecting Faber and hand him over to serve his sentence.
Simon Wiesenthal Centre director Efraim Zuroff said: “He is one of the most evil men alive. For Germany to continue shielding him is a shocking stain on the nation’s reputation.
“The families of those he killed deserve justice, and it’s time for Germany to stop hiding behind a law that Hitler brought in.”
Arnold Karstens, of the charity War Crimes Investigations, said: “It is beyond belief that this man is free. Germany should hang its head in shame.
Meanwhile, German authorities have said that Faber was immune from prosecution and extradition.
