BERLIN, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- A public awareness campaign has netted 300 tips on potential Nazi war criminals and four investigations in Germany have been opened, officials said.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency said "Operation Last Chance II," started by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, has generated a significant number of new tips in the hunt for World War II war criminals across Europe and elsewhere. Of the hundreds of tips, 81 included information about possible former Nazis still living in Germany, said Efraim Zuroff, the group's chief Nazi hunter who is based in Jerusalem.
In all, the group has identified 110 possible Nazi war criminals and has referred the information to Germany's Central Office for Clarification of Nazi Crimes. From the list, at least four investigations have been opened. Two of the cases involve alleged concentration camp guards, including a male guard at Dachau and a female guard at Auschwitz. A third case relates to the 1944 massacre of civilians in Oradur-sur-Glane, France. The fourth case centers on a suspected collector of Nazi memorabilia and weapons though it was unclear whether the man himself was suspected of Nazi war crimes.
The public outreach campaign is driven by posters and billboards in Germany and elsewhere that read "Late but not too late." The advertisements will soon be installed in Munich and several other German cities, with officials hoping they will generate more tips from the public.
Zuroff said the campaign has already well exceeded the group's expectations for a response.
"It proves that the poster struck a very strong nerve in German society," he said.
