The Austrians are facing this issue right now – and not to the satisfaction of some groups tracking those involved in documenting the Holocaust.

She seems harmless enough now, the elderly figure in a dressing gown peering round the door to her flat.

Erna Wallisch, an 85-year-old grandmother, rarely ventures out, spending her days drinking coffee and being cared for by her family.

But the image she presents belies a dark past which has put her seventh on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's list of most-wanted Nazi war criminals still at large.

Under Austria’s laws, the statute of limitations has run out on Wallisch’s crimes. But are there some crimes that deserve no statute of limitations? Is there no place else that she could be prosecuted – perhaps Poland or Israel? How long should participation in crimes against humanity be subject to punishment – or should such individuals be subject to the perpetual threat of punishment for their participation in genocide?

Posted by: Greg at 12:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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