Accused Nazi war criminal arrested

Early this morning, Hungarian law enforcement detained accused Nazi war criminal Laszlo Csatary.  The judge in the case ordered him placed under house arrest.

Csatary was a commander for the Royal Hungarian police force in Kassa, in modern-day Slovakia, where he served as commander of the Jewish ghetto during the Second World War.  While in this capacity he was allegedly responsible for the deportation of 15,000 Jews to concentration camps. Csatary is also accused of assaulting prisoners.

In 1948, Csatary was convicted in absentia and sentenced to death in Czechoslovakia, but fled to Canada where he obtained citizenship. He remained there until 1997 when he escaped back to Hungary after his Canadian citizenship was revoked for providing false information to immigration authorities and deportation hearings were underway.

Csatary was identified and located by Hungarian authorities almost a year ago using information provided by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, but further investigation was required to make the arrest possible.  Csatary had been living in Budapest under his real name for 15 year.

The attention his identification drew forced Csatary to move apartments in the past year, according to his attorney, but authorities worried this might be an effort to evade capture.  During questioning, Csatary, who is now 97 years old, claimed innocence and insisted that he had only been carrying out orders.

In 2011, the Simon Wiesenthal Center reported that there are over 800 investigations underway and 21 new indictments filed against suspected Nazi war criminals in 2010.  Csatary was one of the top-ten most wanted.  Last year, Hungary arrested the top name on the most-wanted list, Sandor Kapiro, for his role in a massacre in Serbia during the War, but later acquitted him of all charges shortly before his death in September.  

If he is indicted, Csatary’s trial would take place in Hungary and could involve testimony from survivors, if they can be located.