Poland wants Aushwitz survivor tried for genocide

Poland is seeking the extradition from Israel of an 83-year-old Polish-born Jew on charges of genocide for the deaths of German prisoners in a communist camp he commanded after World War II.

Israel previously refused Poland’s request to extradite Auschwitz survivor Solomon Morel, who was the commander of a camp for German prisoners from February-November 1945, to face charges of torture in 1998, saying the statute of limitations had run out.

Polish special prosecutors have upgraded the charges to genocide, for which there is no statute of limitation, based on new testimony from former German inmates at the defunct Swietochlowice camp, near the southern city of Katowice.

Andrzej Arseniuk, a spokesman for prosecutors at the Institute of National Remembrance, which investigates World War II and communist-era crimes, said: “The testimony from former inmates living now in Germany significantly enriched the evidence. It documented Morel’s torture of at least 13 inmates known by name,”

Leon Kieres, the head of the institute, said: “Now the charges say his intention was to exterminate for national and political reasons.”

Mr Kieres said the extradition request, which will be made by a regional court in Katowice in coming weeks, will be Poland’s last attempt to bring Morel to justice.

The new charges accuse Morel of seeking to exterminate German prisoners by starving them to death and depriving them of basic medical care as well as carrying out and sanctioning torture by his subordinates – including imprisoning prisoners in small cells filled with water, trampling them or making them stand for long hours, singing Nazi songs.

Mr Kieres said Morel is believed to be responsible for at least 1,538 deaths at the camp.

The investigation against Morel, begun in 1992, is the only one in Poland against a Jew accused of retaliating against the Germans after their defeat.

Morel was an inmate of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp where he lost his parents and two brothers.

He moved to Israel in 1994 to flee Poland’s justice.

Polish historians generally agree that the communist government imprisoned 100,000 Germans, mostly civilians, deemed threats to the state after World War II.

At least 15,000 died due to ill treatment, and the rest were freed by 1950.