Germany investigates former Nazi

BERLIN, Germany -- An investigation has begun into a 92-year-old former Nazi wanted in Italy for mass executions during World War Two.

Friedrich Engel was tracked down by German ARD television last week in the northern German port city of Hamburg.

He was sentenced in absentia in Italy in 1999 for war crimes but remains a free man, pending results of the investigation.

"There is now a preliminary investigation under way in Hamburg. Documents from Italy must be evaluated," German Justice Ministry spokesman Thomas Weber said.

"He cannot be extradited to Italy, so Germany would have to have its own case against him (for him) to be arrested, and that's up to Hamburg," he said.

German law bars the extradition of German citizens for crimes committed abroad, but they can be prosecuted for such crimes back in Germany.

An Italian court found Engel responsible for the deaths of at least 246 Italians in 1944 and 1945 in the region of Liguria in reprisal for attacks against Germans in the closing phase of World War Two.

Victims were 'martyrs'

Italian media have referred to him as the "Butcher of Genoa."

In an interview with Italy's Corriere della Sera on Sunday, Engel was quoted as saying: "I am responsible, but only in part, for the execution of 59 Italian prisoners of war.

"They died as heroes and I hold them in the highest respect."

Engel was the head of the Nazi SS paramilitary police in the Italian port of Genoa at the time of the deaths.

He said the 1944 executions were a reaction to an attack by "Italian terrorists" against a theatre in Genoa.

"It would have been impossible to find those responsible," he said.

"Fifty-nine men arrested for other acts against us Germans were shot," he added.

"I want to stress that these 59 were martyrs, they did not cry, they did not shout, they did not ask for mercy."

Reuters contributed to this report.

Germany Justice Ministry
ARD

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