The arrest of Johann “Hans” Breyer in Philadelphia pending extradition to Germany to face charges over his role as a guard at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during the Holocaust underscores that there can never be a statute of limitations on holding perpetrators of Nazi atrocities accountable for their crimes.
The passage of time should afford no protection from prosecution to those who carried out horrific acts as part of the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
German officials are asking for his extradition to stand trial for aiding and abetting in the murders of 216,000 Jews.
More than one million people were killed at Auschwitz—at least 960,000 of them Jews. At times between 1941 and 1944, at the height of deportations, up to 6,000 Jews were killed a day at Auschwitz.
B’nai B’rith commends the Human Rights and Special Protections Section of the U.S. Department of Justice for its tireless work in pursuit of Nazis living in the United States.
The passage of time should afford no protection from prosecution to those who carried out horrific acts as part of the Nazi plan to exterminate the Jews of Europe.
German officials are asking for his extradition to stand trial for aiding and abetting in the murders of 216,000 Jews.
More than one million people were killed at Auschwitz—at least 960,000 of them Jews. At times between 1941 and 1944, at the height of deportations, up to 6,000 Jews were killed a day at Auschwitz.
B’nai B’rith commends the Human Rights and Special Protections Section of the U.S. Department of Justice for its tireless work in pursuit of Nazis living in the United States.