’Top Nazi died in Egypt’
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 06, 2009 00:00
CAIRO - Documents have surfaced in Egypt showing the world's most-wanted Nazi war criminal, concentration camp doctor Aribert Heim, or "Doctor Death," died in Cairo in 1992, Germany's ZDF television and The New York Times reported. The reports said Heim was living under a pseudonym and had converted to Islam by the time of his death from intestinal cancer.
German investigators who have hunted Nazi war criminal for decades said yesterday that new information appears credible and that they will attempt to locate his corpse to rule out any doubt. ZDF said that in a joint effort with the NY Times, it located a passport, application for a residence permit, bank slips, personal letters and medical papers left behind by Heim in a briefcase in the hotel room where he lived under the name Tarek Hussein Farid.
Though he did not know Heim's real identity, Egyptian dentist Tarek Abdelmoneim el Rifai said he knew him through his father, Abdelmoneim el Rifai, 88, who was Heim's dentist in Cairo. He said that he only met Heim a few times, 20 years ago, but confirmed that he knew of his death. "He died in 1992. I didn't know that he was a doctor and that he is the most wanted Nazi war criminal. I am surprised," he said.
"He introduced himself to my father as a German and I know that he converted to Islam and changed his name."
When he met Heim two decades ago at his father's clinic, el Rifai said he had the impression he was on the run. "The only thing I knew about him is that he fled from the Jews," el Rifai said.
ZDF quoted Heim's son Ruediger Heim as confirming the pseudonym Tarek Hussein Farid as his father's assumed name and the documents as belonging to him. Heim said he visited his father regularly in Cairo and had taken care of him after an operation related to his cancer in 1990.
’Doctor Death’
Simon Wiesenthal Center head Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff said he has not seen the documents and that while it seems that there is "definitely a strong possibility" they point to Heim's death in Cairo 16 years ago, they need to be examined by experts.
Born June 28, 1914 in Radkersburg, Austria, Heim joined the local Nazi party in 1935, three years before Austria was bloodlessly annexed by Germany.
He later joined the Waffen SS and was assigned to Mauthausen, a concentration camp near Linz, Austria, as a camp doctor in October and November 1941. While there, witnesses told investigators, he worked closely with SS pharmacist Erich Wasicky on such gruesome experiments as injecting various solutions into Jewish prisoners' hearts to see which killed them the fastest.
In 1961, German authorities were alerted that Heim was living in Baden-Baden and began an investigation, but when they finally went to arrest him in September 1962, they just missed him - he apparently had been tipped off. Heim would be 94 today if still alive.
Heim fled through France and Spain before crossing into Morocco, and eventually settling in Egypt, ZDF and the Times reported. He lived in Cairo at the Kasr el Madina hotel for the 10 years leading up to his death, the report said.
Though he did not know Heim's real identity, Egyptian dentist Tarek Abdelmoneim el Rifai said he knew him through his father, Abdelmoneim el Rifai, 88, who was Heim's dentist in Cairo. He said that he only met Heim a few times, 20 years ago, but confirmed that he knew of his death. "He died in 1992. I didn't know that he was a doctor and that he is the most wanted Nazi war criminal. I am surprised," he said.
"He introduced himself to my father as a German and I know that he converted to Islam and changed his name."
When he met Heim two decades ago at his father's clinic, el Rifai said he had the impression he was on the run. "The only thing I knew about him is that he fled from the Jews," el Rifai said.
ZDF quoted Heim's son Ruediger Heim as confirming the pseudonym Tarek Hussein Farid as his father's assumed name and the documents as belonging to him. Heim said he visited his father regularly in Cairo and had taken care of him after an operation related to his cancer in 1990.
’Doctor Death’
Simon Wiesenthal Center head Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff said he has not seen the documents and that while it seems that there is "definitely a strong possibility" they point to Heim's death in Cairo 16 years ago, they need to be examined by experts.
Born June 28, 1914 in Radkersburg, Austria, Heim joined the local Nazi party in 1935, three years before Austria was bloodlessly annexed by Germany.
He later joined the Waffen SS and was assigned to Mauthausen, a concentration camp near Linz, Austria, as a camp doctor in October and November 1941. While there, witnesses told investigators, he worked closely with SS pharmacist Erich Wasicky on such gruesome experiments as injecting various solutions into Jewish prisoners' hearts to see which killed them the fastest.
In 1961, German authorities were alerted that Heim was living in Baden-Baden and began an investigation, but when they finally went to arrest him in September 1962, they just missed him - he apparently had been tipped off. Heim would be 94 today if still alive.
Heim fled through France and Spain before crossing into Morocco, and eventually settling in Egypt, ZDF and the Times reported. He lived in Cairo at the Kasr el Madina hotel for the 10 years leading up to his death, the report said.