Most-Wanted Nazi Ready to Surrender, Report Says

The world’s most-wanted Nazi war criminals is ready to surrender as long as he is not handed over to the Israelis, a West German news magazine reported today.

The magazine Bunte also quoted the fugitive, Alois Brunner, as saying that when he escaped after World War II, he received official documents under a false name from American authorities and worked for the U.S. Army as a driver.

Brunner, 73, was a close associate of Adolf Eichmann.

Nazi hunter Beate Klarsfeld alleges that Brunner deported more than 60,000 Jews from Greece and Czechoslovakia before becoming commander of a concentration camp at Drancy, France, from where he is said to have deported at least 24,000 Jews to Germany.

Reportedly in Syria

The magazine said Brunner was tracked down in Damascus, Syria, where he has been living for several years under the name “Dr. Fischer.”

“I am ready to go and respond before an international court,” Bunte quoted Brunner as saying. The magazine said Brunner had said there are “certain conditions.”

Norbert Sakowski, deputy chief editor of Bunte, said in a telephone interview that the main condition was that Brunner “not be handed over to the Israelis.” Sakowski also said Brunner will be looking for “a special international court” to consider his case.

The magazine quoted Brunner as saying: “It’s just that Israel will never get me. I won’t become a second Eichmann.”

The Israelis captured Eichmann in Argentina and hanged him in 1962 for crimes against the Jews. As head of the Gestapo’s Jewish section, Eichmann oversaw the deportation and murder of millions of Jews during World War II.

Sentenced to Death

Brunner is wanted by Austria, West Germany, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece and Israel, according to Bunte. French courts twice have sentenced Brunner to death.