Erna Wallisch | Alleged Nazi guard, 85
Erna Wallisch, 85, who was being investigated in Austria on allegations that she beat an inmate to death while serving as a Nazi concentration-camp guard, died of unspecified causes Feb. 16 at a Vienna hospital, Austria's Interior Ministry said. Because of her death, authorities closed the case, the state prosecutor said. The case was launched last month after Polish authorities sent new evidence implicating her in the beating death of an inmate at Poland's Majdanek death camp. She had evaded prosecution on murder charges in the 1960s for lack of evidence and had steadfastly proclaimed her innocence. The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem criticized the Austrian government for inaction, and said her death "should serve as a reminder to all the governments which are dealing with the cases of Nazi war criminals that they had best expedite these prosecutions while justice can still be achieved." - AP
Erna Wallisch, 85, who was being investigated in Austria on allegations that she beat an inmate to death while serving as a Nazi concentration-camp guard, died of unspecified causes Feb. 16 at a Vienna hospital, Austria's Interior Ministry said.
Because of her death, authorities closed the case, the state prosecutor said. The case was launched last month after Polish authorities sent new evidence implicating her in the beating death of an inmate at Poland's Majdanek death camp.
She had evaded prosecution on murder charges in the 1960s for lack of evidence and had steadfastly proclaimed her innocence.
The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem criticized the Austrian government for inaction, and said her death "should serve as a reminder to all the governments which are dealing with the cases of Nazi war criminals that they had best expedite these prosecutions while justice can still be achieved."
- AP