Report: Most wanted Nazi tracked down in Budapest

The Sun says its reporters found Ladislaus Csizsik-Csatary, who 'took pleasure in beating women with whip' while serving as police commander in Kassa ghetto. ''No I didn’t do it, go away from here,' he tells reporters who confront him

Ynet|Published: 07.15.12 , 08:33

British newspaper The Sun said it has tracked down the world’s most wanted Nazi war criminal — who helped send 15,700 Jews to their deaths at Auschwitz — in Budapest, Hungary.

The paper said Ladislaus Csizsik-Csatary, 97, who served as a police commander in charge of a Jewish ghetto in Kassa, Hungary during World War Two, fled Kassa after the was and was sentenced to death for war crimes in his absence in Czechoslovakia in 1948.

He created a new identity and worked as an art dealer in Canada, but disappeared again 15 years ago when his cover was blown and the government began to build a case against him.

According to documents uncovered the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, Csizsik-Csatary took pleasure in beating women with a whip he carried on his belt, and also forced them to dig ditches in frozen ground with their bare hands.

The documents also revealed that he made dissenting Jews take up stress positions for hours, hit them with a dog lead and oversaw a shoot-on-sight policy if they tried to escape.

Nazi hunters from the Wiesenthal Center, which recently placed Csizsik-Csatary at the top of its most wanted list, provided The Sun with information regarding his possible whereabouts.

The Sun said its reporters tracked him down to a two-bedroom apartment in Budapest.

"Once our team found Csizsik-Csatary they were able to establish he was the Nazi collaborator. We confronted him at the flat where he had been living quietly among families unaware of his chilling past," The Sun reported.

According to the report, Csizsik-Csatary, who speaks English with a Canadian accent after decades living in Montreal and Toronto, answered the door in just socks and underpants.

"When we asked if he could justify his past, he looked shocked and stammered 'No, no. Go away.' Questioned about his deportation case in Canada he answered angrily in English: 'No, no. I don’t want to discuss it.' Our reporter asked: 'Do you deny doing it? A lot of people died as a result of your actions.' He replied: 'No I didn’t do it, go away from here,' before slamming the door," The Sun reported.

During the legal proceedings against him in Canada, Csizsik-Csatary admitted to taking part in the transportation of Jews to Auschwitz, but claimed that his role was "limited."

After studying dossiers of evidence disclosed by The Sun, Hungary's Deputy Chief Prosecutor Dr Jeno Varga said: "There is an ongoing investigation. Prosecutors are studying the information submitted."