Wiesenthal Center Wecomes Deportation of Neuengamme Concentration Camp Guard From the United States

Jerusalem –The Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed "deep satisfaction" that the American authorities succeededyesterday in deporting Friedrich Karl Berger to Germany on the basis of his participation in Nazi crimes against humanity as a guard at the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg.

The Center's chief Nazi-hunter, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, noted the exceptionally successful prosecutions of Holocaust perpetratorsachieved by the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations (established in 1979) and subsequently renamed the Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Division. Berger is the 70thperson removed from the United States in connection with their role in human rights abuses in the service of the Third Reich.

According to Zuroff:

"The notable positive results achieved by the American authorities are by far the most numerically successful in the world duringthe past four decades in terms of the number of individuals who served the Nazi regime who were punished in connection with their service during World War II. We congratulate and greatlyappreciate the efforts invested in this important mission, once the United States government decided to take action against such persons."

For additional information please contact the Israel Office of the Wiesenthal Center: Tel: 972-2-563-1274 or Tel: 972-50-721-4156,follow the Center on Facebook, or @simonwiesenthal and @EZuroff for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations withover 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin AmericanParliament (Parlatino).