August 17



POLAND:

Bialystok uprising marked


Poland on Wednesday marked the 63rd anniversary of the Jewish ghetto
uprising in Bialystok.

Government and Jewish leaders took part in the ceremonies, according to
Polish media reports. Bialystok Deputy Mayor Ryszard Zimnoch said its
especially important for young people to commemorate the history of the
Holocaust and understand the Jewish contribution to Polish culture.

The Nazis quelled the Bialystok uprising by 300 Jews within a few days.
After that, most of the citys 50,000 Jews were deported to death camps,
and only a few hundred survived World War II.

(source: JTA)




SERBIA:

Serbia Urged to Extradite Nazi Suspects


A director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center urged Serbian authorities on
Wednesday to seek the extradition of two Croatia-born men and try them
for alleged World War II atrocities against Jews, Serbs and Gypsies.

Efraim Zuroff, the Los Angeles-based center's chief Nazi hunter, met in
Belgrade with President Boris Tadic and Justice Ministry officials,
advising them to join efforts to bring to justice Ivo Rojnica and Milivoj
Asner.

The men served in Croatia's World War II Nazi puppet regime and allegedly
took part in the prosecution and death camp deportations of hundreds of
Jews, Serbs and Gypsies, Zuroff said.

Although the men are not Serbian citizens and their alleged crimes were
committed in the territory of present-day Croatia, the ethnicity of some
of the victims "entitles Serbia to seek extradition" of Rojnica and Asner,
living in Argentina and Austria, respectively, Zuroff said.

Last year, Croatia indicted Asner for crimes against humanity and war
crimes, but Austrian authorities failed to arrest the 92-year-old man.
Croatia has since shown little resolve to press for the handover of Asner,
or to seek extradition of Rojnica, 90, who is believed to be living in
Buenos Aires, Zuroff said.

"When it comes to the Second World War cases, in our attempts to see
justice done it has always been important to consider the victim's origins
and identity," he said.

There was no immediate comment from Serbian officials.

Rojnica is allegedly responsible for crimes committed against hundreds of
Serbs, Jews and Gypsies in the southern city of Dubrovnik. Asner allegedly
sent victims from the town of Slavonska Poega to a Croat-run death camp
where most of them later died.

"The passing of time does not diminish what those men did. If someone
committed a war crime in 1941 or 1942 and if 60 years have passed and they
were not brought to justice, it does not mean that person's responsibility
is not the same today as it was then," said Zuroff, who spearheads
"Operation: Last Chance," an effort to get Nazi suspects arrested and
tried before they die.

Tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs and Gypsies perished during the so-called
Independent State of Croatia, which the Nazis set up when they invaded the
former Yugoslavia in 1941 and encouraged ethnic violence among the
country's diverse population.

On the Net: Operation Last Chance: http://www.operationlastchance.org

(source: Associated Press)