Top Nazi Suspect Laszlo Csatary Found in Budapest

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre (an organization dedicated to bringing to justice Nazi officials and collaborators responsible for the Holocaust) confirmed Sunday that it had found in Budapest, Hungary it's top wanted Nazi suspect - Laszlo Csatary. Csatary is said to be responsible for/participated in the deportation of an estimated 15,700 Jews while serving as a senior Hungarian police officer in the Hungarian ruled Slovakian city of Kosice.

An informer paid $25,000 provided the key information that allowed the Wiesenthal Centre to confirm the 97 year old Csatary's location in Budapest. The Budapest prosecutor's office has been notified and claims to be conducting an investigation (there is a perception that the prosecutor has been moving far too slowly considering the magnitude of the crimes Csatary is said to have committed).

Meanwhile, the Wiesenthal Centre continues to turn over information directly implicating Csatary in a number of crimes against humanity; including the summer 1941 deportation of approximately 300 Jews from Kosice to Kamenetz-Podolsk, Ukraine, where almost all were murdered. For his part, when reporters attempted to speak with Csatary he denied he was involved in the mass murder of Jews. That said, there appears to be an overwhelming amount of credible evidence that has emerged to the contrary.

If Csatary is eventually charged, tried, and convicted it would be a rare win indeed; as the majority of former Nazi's have largely escaped justice in spite of the fact that they conducted and took part in history's greatest genocide.

JULY 18, 2012 UPDATE: Early today Hungarian police arrested Laszlo Csatary in Budapest - his residence since fleeing Canada after his citizenship was stripped during the 1990's. Apparently, he is alternatively denying being a war criminal and/or "just following orders".  Now, I will grant you that the consequences for disobeying orders in Nazi Germany could be severe (or the consequences could be surprisingly weak - it appears to have depended upon who you were), but we need to remember that Csatary was a Hungarian citizen and policeman. This means that as a member of the Hungarian police, especially prior to German occupation and the Arrow Cross taking power in 1944, that Csatary likely could have objected to and/or declined to participate in any number of actions for which he is being questioned, and he quite possibly may not have faced severe consequences for refusing to participate. For instance in regards to his role in deporting hundreds of Jews to their death from Kosice in the summer of 1941. This was because Hungary mostly protected its Jewish population from the Nazi's for much of the war, and as a Hungarian national he may have been in the clear; that is unless of course he either agreed with Hitler's agenda or was too craven to risk endangering his position with the police.