Aribert Heim
Encyclopedia
Aribert Ferdinand Heim (born 28 June 1914 – allegedly died 10 August 1992) was an Austria
n doctor, also known as Dr. Death. As an SS
doctor in a Nazi concentration camp
in Mauthausen
, he is accused of killing and torturing many inmates by various methods, such as direct injections of toxic compounds into the hearts of his victims. He is alleged to have lived for many years in Cairo
, Egypt
under the alias of Tarek Farid Hussein and reportedly died there on 10 August 1992. His grave and body have not been found. At the end of a BBC
documentary, broadcast 12 September 2009, it was stated that German police visited Cairo in 2009 but found no evidence of Heim's death.
, Austria-Hungary
. He was the son of a policeman and a housewife. He studied medicine in Graz
, receiving his doctorate in Vienna
, joining the SS after the Anschluss
. He volunteered for the Waffen-SS
in the spring of 1940, rising to the rank of Hauptsturmführer
(Captain).
, where he performed medical experiments on prisoners. He was later sent to an SS field hospital
in Vienna.
The prisoners at Mauthausen called Heim "Dr. Death
". For about two months (October to December 1941), Heim was stationed at the camp called Ebensee
near Linz
, Austria
, where he carried out experiments on Jews similar to those performed at Auschwitz by Josef Mengele
. According to Holocaust survivors Jewish prisoners were poisoned with various injections directly into the heart - including petrol, water, phenol and poison - to induce a quicker death. He is reported to have removed organs from prisoners without anesthesia
.
According to a former camp inmate, an 18-year-old Jewish man came to the clinic with a foot inflammation. He was asked by Heim why he was so fit. He replied that he had been a football player and swimmer. Instead of treating the prisoner's foot, Heim placed him under anesthesia, cut him open, took apart one kidney, removed the second and castrated him. The man was decapitated and Heim boiled the flesh off the skull for use as a paperweight and display.
in northern Finland
, especially in Oulu
's hospitals as an SS doctor. His service continued until at least October 1942.
On 15 March 1945 Heim was captured by US soldiers and sent to a camp for prisoners of war
. He was released and worked as a gynecologist at Baden-Baden
until his disappearance in 1962; he had telephoned his home and was told the police were waiting for him. Having been questioned on previous occasions, he surmised the reason (an international warrant for his arrest had been in place since that date) and went into hiding. According to his son Rüdiger Heim, he drove through France
and Spain
onward to Morocco
, moving finally to Egypt
via Libya
.
After Alois Brunner
(Adolf Eichmann
's top assistant), Heim had been the second most wanted Nazi officer.
, Chile
who said he died in 1993. However, when she tried to recover a million-dollar inheritance from an account in his name, she was unable to provide a death certificate.
In August 2008, to take hold of his assets, Heim's son asked that his father be declared legally dead; he intended to donate them to projects working to document the atrocities committed in the camps.
After years of apparently false sightings, the circumstances of Heim's escape, life in hiding and death were jointly reported by the German broadcaster ZDF
and the New York Times in February 2009. They reported that he lived under a false name, Tarek Farid Hussein, in Egypt and that he died of intestinal cancer in Cairo in 1992.
Heim had settled in Cairo
in 1962 where he converted to Islam
. According to his neighbour, "His life was very ordered: exercise in the morning, then prayers at the main Al-Azhar mosque, and long sessions spent reading and writing while he sat on a rocking chair." The reporters investigating his case found an Egyptian death certificate and confirmed its authenticity.
In an interview at the family’s villa in Baden-Baden his son Rüdiger admitted publicly for the first time that he was with his father in Egypt at the time of his death. Heim says it was during the Olympics
, and that he died the day after the games ended. According to Efraim Zuroff
, Rüdiger Heim had - until the publishing of the ZDF research results - constantly denied having any knowledge of the whereabouts of Aribert Heim. The German police authorities are still investigating to this day, since there is no sufficient evidence of Aribert Heim's death.
On 8 June 2001, a lawyer issued a statement to a Berlin courthouse in which he claimed to be in contact with Aribert Heim. On March 18, 2009, the Simon Wiesenthal Center filed a criminal complaint due to suspicion of false testimony.
, Spain
and Africa
, as well as formal investigations aimed at bringing him to justice, some of which took place even after he had apparently died in Egypt. The German
government offered €150,000 for information leading to his arrest, while the Simon Wiesenthal Center
launched Operation Last Chance
, a project to assist governments in the location and arrest of suspected Nazi war criminals who are still alive. Tax records prove that, as late as 2001, Heim's lawyer asked the German authorities to refund capital gains taxes levied on him because he was living abroad.
Heim was alleged to have moved to Spain after fleeing Paysandú
, Uruguay
, when he was located by the Israeli Mossad
.
Heim reportedly hid out in South America
, Spain
and the Balkans
, but only his presence in Spain has ever been confirmed. Efraim Zuroff
, of the Wiesenthal Center, initiated an active search for his whereabouts, and in late 2005, Spanish police incorrectly determined his location as Palafrugell
. According to El Mundo, Heim had been helped by associates of Otto Skorzeny
, who had organized one of the biggest ODESSA
bases in Franco
's Spain. Press reports in mid-October 2005 suggested that Heim's arrest by Spanish police was "imminent". Within a few days, however, newer reports suggested that he had successfully evaded capture and had relocated either to another part of Spain or else to Denmark
.
Fredrik Jensen
, a Norwegian
and former SS Obersturmführer
, was put under police investigation in June 2007, charged with assisting Heim in his escape. The accusation was denied by Jensen.
According to a 2007 publication by former Israeli Air Force
Colonel
Danny Baz, Heim was kidnapped from Canada and taken to Santa Catalina
off the Californian coast, where he was killed by a Nazi-hunting team codenamed "The Owl" in 1982. Baz himself claims to have been part of this group. The Simon Wiesenthal Center
in Jerusalem, as well as the French Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld say this is not true.
In July 2007, the Austria
n Justice Ministry declared that they would pay €50,000 for information leading to his arrest and extradition to Austria.
On 6 July 2008 Dr. Efraim Zuroff
, the Wiesenthal Center's chief Nazi-hunter, headed to South America
as part of a public campaign to capture the most wanted Nazi in the world and bring him to justice, claiming that Heim was alive and hiding in Patagonia
, either in Chile
or Argentina
. He elaborated on 15 July 2008 that he was sure Heim was alive and the groundwork had been laid to capture him within weeks.
In 2008, Heim was named as one of the ten most wanted Nazi war criminals by the Simon Wiesenthal Center
.,
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n doctor, also known as Dr. Death. As an SS
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
doctor in a Nazi concentration camp
Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
in Mauthausen
Mauthausen
Mauthausen is a small market town in Upper Austria, Austria. It is located at about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz, and has a population of 4,850 .During World War II, it became the site of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex....
, he is accused of killing and torturing many inmates by various methods, such as direct injections of toxic compounds into the hearts of his victims. He is alleged to have lived for many years in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
under the alias of Tarek Farid Hussein and reportedly died there on 10 August 1992. His grave and body have not been found. At the end of a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary, broadcast 12 September 2009, it was stated that German police visited Cairo in 2009 but found no evidence of Heim's death.
Early life
Heim was born in Bad RadkersburgBad Radkersburg
Bad Radkersburg is a city in the southeast of the Austrian state of Styria and capital of the district of Radkersburg. It is located at an elevation of 208 m and covers an area of 2.17 km². Its population amounts to about 1,940 people...
, Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. He was the son of a policeman and a housewife. He studied medicine in Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, receiving his doctorate in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, joining the SS after the Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
. He volunteered for the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
in the spring of 1940, rising to the rank of Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer
Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. The rank of Hauptsturmführer was a mid-grade company level officer and was the equivalent of a Captain in the German Army and also the equivalent of captain in foreign armies...
(Captain).
Mauthausen concentration camp
In October 1941, Heim was sent into the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration campMauthausen-Gusen concentration camp
Mauthausen Concentration Camp grew to become a large group of Nazi concentration camps that was built around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, roughly east of the city of Linz.Initially a single camp at Mauthausen, it expanded over time and by the summer of 1940, the...
, where he performed medical experiments on prisoners. He was later sent to an SS field hospital
Field hospital
A field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities...
in Vienna.
The prisoners at Mauthausen called Heim "Dr. Death
Dr. Death
Dr. Death may refer to:People:*Aribert Heim, Austrian doctor and one of the world's most wanted Nazi war criminals*Josef Mengele, German doctor and also an infamous Nazi war criminal, also known as the "Angel of Death"...
". For about two months (October to December 1941), Heim was stationed at the camp called Ebensee
Ebensee
Ebensee is a market town in the Traunviertel region of the Austrian state of Upper Austria, located within the Salzkammergut Mountains at the southern end of the Traunsee. The regional capital Linz lies approximately to the north, nearest towns are Gmunden and Bad Ischl...
near Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, where he carried out experiments on Jews similar to those performed at Auschwitz by Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
. According to Holocaust survivors Jewish prisoners were poisoned with various injections directly into the heart - including petrol, water, phenol and poison - to induce a quicker death. He is reported to have removed organs from prisoners without anesthesia
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...
.
According to a former camp inmate, an 18-year-old Jewish man came to the clinic with a foot inflammation. He was asked by Heim why he was so fit. He replied that he had been a football player and swimmer. Instead of treating the prisoner's foot, Heim placed him under anesthesia, cut him open, took apart one kidney, removed the second and castrated him. The man was decapitated and Heim boiled the flesh off the skull for use as a paperweight and display.
Later career
From February 1942, Heim served in the 6th SS Mountain Division Nord6th SS Mountain Division Nord
The 6th SS Mountain Division "Nord" was a German unit of the Waffen SS during World War II, formed in February 1941 as SS Kampfgruppe Nord ....
in northern Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, especially in Oulu
Oulu
Oulu is a city and municipality of inhabitants in the region of Northern Ostrobothnia, in Finland. It is the most populous city in Northern Finland and the sixth most populous city in the country. It is one of the northernmost larger cities in the world....
's hospitals as an SS doctor. His service continued until at least October 1942.
On 15 March 1945 Heim was captured by US soldiers and sent to a camp for prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
. He was released and worked as a gynecologist at Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden is a spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe...
until his disappearance in 1962; he had telephoned his home and was told the police were waiting for him. Having been questioned on previous occasions, he surmised the reason (an international warrant for his arrest had been in place since that date) and went into hiding. According to his son Rüdiger Heim, he drove through France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
onward to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, moving finally to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
via Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
.
After Alois Brunner
Alois Brunner
Alois Brunner is an Austrian Nazi war criminal. Brunner was Adolf Eichmann's assistant, and Eichmann referred to Brunner as his "best man." As commander of the Drancy internment camp outside Paris from June 1943 to August 1944, Brunner is held responsible for sending some 140,000 European Jews to...
(Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Eichmann
Adolf Otto Eichmann was a German Nazi and SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust...
's top assistant), Heim had been the second most wanted Nazi officer.
Conversion to Islam and alleged death
In 2006, a German newspaper reported that he had a daughter, Waltraud, living in the outskirts of Puerto MonttPuerto Montt
Puerto Montt is a port city and commune in southern Chile, located at the northern end of the Reloncaví Sound in the Llanquihue Province, Los Lagos Region. The commune spans an area of and had a population of 175,938 in 2002. It is located 1,055 km to the south of the capital, Santiago...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
who said he died in 1993. However, when she tried to recover a million-dollar inheritance from an account in his name, she was unable to provide a death certificate.
In August 2008, to take hold of his assets, Heim's son asked that his father be declared legally dead; he intended to donate them to projects working to document the atrocities committed in the camps.
After years of apparently false sightings, the circumstances of Heim's escape, life in hiding and death were jointly reported by the German broadcaster ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...
and the New York Times in February 2009. They reported that he lived under a false name, Tarek Farid Hussein, in Egypt and that he died of intestinal cancer in Cairo in 1992.
Heim had settled in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
in 1962 where he converted to Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
. According to his neighbour, "His life was very ordered: exercise in the morning, then prayers at the main Al-Azhar mosque, and long sessions spent reading and writing while he sat on a rocking chair." The reporters investigating his case found an Egyptian death certificate and confirmed its authenticity.
In an interview at the family’s villa in Baden-Baden his son Rüdiger admitted publicly for the first time that he was with his father in Egypt at the time of his death. Heim says it was during the Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
, and that he died the day after the games ended. According to Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff is an Israeli historian of American origin, who has played a role in bringing Nazis indicted for war crimes to trial...
, Rüdiger Heim had - until the publishing of the ZDF research results - constantly denied having any knowledge of the whereabouts of Aribert Heim. The German police authorities are still investigating to this day, since there is no sufficient evidence of Aribert Heim's death.
On 8 June 2001, a lawyer issued a statement to a Berlin courthouse in which he claimed to be in contact with Aribert Heim. On March 18, 2009, the Simon Wiesenthal Center filed a criminal complaint due to suspicion of false testimony.
Sightings and investigations
In the years since his disappearance, Heim was the target of a rapidly escalating manhunt and ever-increasing rewards for his capture. Following his escape there were reported sightings in Latin AmericaLatin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, as well as formal investigations aimed at bringing him to justice, some of which took place even after he had apparently died in Egypt. The German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
government offered €150,000 for information leading to his arrest, while the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
launched Operation Last Chance
Operation Last Chance
Operation Last Chance was launched in July 2002 by Simon Wiesenthal Center in order to track down ex-Nazis still in hiding, as most of them would be nearing the end of their lifetimes, hence the operation's name...
, a project to assist governments in the location and arrest of suspected Nazi war criminals who are still alive. Tax records prove that, as late as 2001, Heim's lawyer asked the German authorities to refund capital gains taxes levied on him because he was living abroad.
Heim was alleged to have moved to Spain after fleeing Paysandú
Paysandú
-Transportation:The city is served by Tydeo Larre Borges International Airport.-Climate:Paysandú has a humid subtropical climate, described by the Köppen climate classification as Cfa. Summers are warm to hot and winters are cool, with the occurrence of frosts and fog...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, when he was located by the Israeli Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
.
Heim reportedly hid out in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
, but only his presence in Spain has ever been confirmed. Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff is an Israeli historian of American origin, who has played a role in bringing Nazis indicted for war crimes to trial...
, of the Wiesenthal Center, initiated an active search for his whereabouts, and in late 2005, Spanish police incorrectly determined his location as Palafrugell
Palafrugell
Palafrugell is a municipality in the Mediterranean Costa Brava, located near Palamós in the comarca of Baix Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. With 22,365 inhabitants it is the largest city of its comarca...
. According to El Mundo, Heim had been helped by associates of Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny
Otto Skorzeny was an SS-Obersturmbannführer in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he was chosen as the field commander to carry out the rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity...
, who had organized one of the biggest ODESSA
ODESSA
The ODESSA, from the German Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen, meaning “Organization of Former SS Members,” is believed to have been an international Nazi network set up toward the end of World War II by a group of SS officers...
bases in Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's Spain. Press reports in mid-October 2005 suggested that Heim's arrest by Spanish police was "imminent". Within a few days, however, newer reports suggested that he had successfully evaded capture and had relocated either to another part of Spain or else to Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
.
Fredrik Jensen
Fredrik Jensen
Fredrik Jensen was a decorated Norwegian soldier in the German Waffen SS during World War II. He was born in Oslo, Norway....
, a Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and former SS Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi party that was used by the SS and also as a rank of the SA. Translated as “Senior Assault Leader”, the rank of Obersturmführer was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the Sturmabteilung and the need for an additional rank in...
, was put under police investigation in June 2007, charged with assisting Heim in his escape. The accusation was denied by Jensen.
According to a 2007 publication by former Israeli Air Force
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Danny Baz, Heim was kidnapped from Canada and taken to Santa Catalina
Santa Catalina Island, California
Santa Catalina Island, often called Catalina Island, or just Catalina, is a rocky island off the coast of the U.S. state of California. The island is long and across at its greatest width. The island is located about south-southwest of Los Angeles, California. The highest point on the island is...
off the Californian coast, where he was killed by a Nazi-hunting team codenamed "The Owl" in 1982. Baz himself claims to have been part of this group. The Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
in Jerusalem, as well as the French Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld say this is not true.
In July 2007, the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n Justice Ministry declared that they would pay €50,000 for information leading to his arrest and extradition to Austria.
On 6 July 2008 Dr. Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff
Efraim Zuroff is an Israeli historian of American origin, who has played a role in bringing Nazis indicted for war crimes to trial...
, the Wiesenthal Center's chief Nazi-hunter, headed to South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
as part of a public campaign to capture the most wanted Nazi in the world and bring him to justice, claiming that Heim was alive and hiding in Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
, either in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
or Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. He elaborated on 15 July 2008 that he was sure Heim was alive and the groundwork had been laid to capture him within weeks.
In 2008, Heim was named as one of the ten most wanted Nazi war criminals by the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
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Further reading
- N.Y. Times (2009) From the Briefcase of Dr. Aribert Heim: The Personal Archives of the Most Wanted Nazi War Criminal, New York Times, retrieved 4 February 2009 (dozens of Aribert Heim's personal documents have been scanned and are available for viewing on the N.Y. Times' multimedia website)