The Hour

Leading Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff is making a final effort to track down those responsible for the Holocaust before time catches up with them.

Heading up Operation Last Chance, Zuroff is making one final attempt to identify and prosecute Nazi criminal.

However, time is not on Zuroff’s side. It has been over 60 years since the end of the Second World War and many Nazis who fled Germany have since died without being held accountable for their crimes. Despite this, the American maintains that it is imperative that Nazis are brought to justice.

“Firstly, the passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the killers. They are just as guilty today as they were the day they committed their crime even if they haven’t been brought to justice yet,” explained Zuroff, who was recruited by Simon Wiesenthal Centre to coordinate the worldwide search for surviving Nazis.

He continued: “The second is that we don’t think old age should afford protection for people who committed mass murder. In fact, there is not a single civilised country in the world which has ever limited prosecution solely based on age.”

Zuroff also believes the victims of the Holocaust “deserve a serious effort to be made to find the people that turned them into victims”.

In his years of tracking down Nazis, Zuroff has uncovered 520 suspects in 24 countries. His search brought him to Scotland in 1990 when, along with the help of STV, he identified Edinburgh man Antanas Gecas as a former Nazi auxiliary police officer responsible for the mass murder of Jews.

“I think its [Gecas’] case, more than any other case, finally convinced the British government that they had to set up an official governmental inquiry, which led to the conclusion that these people committed such terrible crimes that it simply cannot be ignored…which led to the ability to prosecute Nazi war criminals in this country.

“I have to point out that without the help of STV this never would have happened,” he added.

Efraim Zuroff’s autobiography Operation Last Chance: One Man’s Quest to Bring Nazi Criminals to Justice is out now.