Test number two was a person’s health. He had to be alive and healthy enough to stand trial. The third was that he or she – and there were in fact women guards in concentration camps, some of them notorious for their cruelty – had not been previously prosecuted for the crime because if they were we can’t prosecute them again.
How many Nazis and Nazi collaborators in total are still alive around the world?
No one knows the answer to that, but every year we establish an annual report on what’s going on all over the world. And our latest report shows that as of April 1, 2009, there were 706 ongoing cases of Nazi war criminals throughout the world.
What’s the biggest impediment today to catching war criminals?
Lack of political will. Contrary to common perception, in many cases it’s not that hard to find the Nazis or the evidence. But if the government responsible for putting this person on trial or extraditing him won’t do it, we’re in trouble. So I say my job is one- third detective, one-third historian, and one-third political activist.