There are no known Nazi war criminals in Croatia, but clearly the country did not take any action whatsoever to investigate suspected Nazi war criminals, read a report issued by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre on Tuesday.
According to efforts and results in revealing crimes, Croatia is in a group of countries together with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Greece, New Zealand, Romania, Slovakia and Spain, read the twelfth annual status report on the worldwide investigation and prosecution of Nazi war criminals.
Those countries are in "Category E" in which "there are no known suspects and no practical steps have been taken to uncover new cases".
The report covers the period from April 1, 2012 through March 31, 2013 and awards grades ranging from A (highest) to F, to evaluate the efforts and results achieved by more than 36 countries which were either the site of Nazi crimes or admitted Holocaust perpetrators after World War II.
The only country which has adopted a proactive stance on the issue, taken all reasonable measures to identify the potential suspected Nazi war criminals in the country in order to maximise investigation and prosecution and has achieved notable results is the United States.
Canada, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Serbia are those countries which have taken the necessary measures to enable the proper investigation and prosecution of Nazi war criminals and have registered at least one conviction and/or filed one indictment, or submitted an extradition request.
"The Report’s purpose is to focus public attention on the issue and encourage all the governments involved to maximize their efforts to ensure that as many as possible of the unprosecuted Holocaust perpetrators will be held accountable for their crimes,” said Efraim Zuroff, the centre's head.
Two new names were added to the list of most wanted Nazi war criminals - Hans (Antanas) Lipschis and Theodor Szehinskyj who escaped to the United States after World War II.
