László Csatáry

László Csizsik Csatáry (Hungarian: [ˈlaːsloː ˈt͡ʃɒtaːri]; 4 March 1915 – 10 August 2013) was a Hungarian citizen and was convicted and sentenced to death in absentia in 1948 by a Czechoslovak court as a Nazi war criminal. In 2012, his name was added to the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of most wanted Nazi war criminals.[2]

László Csatáry
László Csatáry in 1943 (aged 28)
Born(1915-03-04)4 March 1915
Mány, Austria-Hungary
Died10 August 2013(2013-08-10) (aged 98)[1]
Budapest, Hungary
OccupationArt dealer
Known forAlleged war crimes
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The native form of this personal name is Csatáry László. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Life

Csatáry was born in Mány in 1915.[3][4] In 1944 he was the Royal Hungarian Police[5] assistant to the commander in the city of Kassa in Hungary (now Košice in Slovakia). He was accused of organizing the deportation of approximately 15,700 Jews to Auschwitz[2][6] and of having inhumanely exercised his authority in a forced labor camp.[5] He was also accused of brutalizing the inhabitants of the city.[7]

He was convicted in absentia for war crimes in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and sentenced to death. He fled to Canada in 1949, claiming to be a Yugoslav national and settled in Montreal, where he became an art dealer.[8] He became a Canadian citizen in 1955.[3][9] In 1997, his Canadian citizenship was revoked by the federal Cabinet for lying on his citizenship application.[5][10] He left the country two months later but was never charged with war crimes in Canada. An extensive criminal reference check was done on him with no evidence of war crimes there.

In 2012, Csatáry was located in Budapest, Hungary, based on a tip received by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in September 2011.[11][12][13]

His address was exposed by reporters from The Sun in July 2012.[12][13] He was reportedly taken into custody on 18 July 2012 by the Hungarian authorities for questioning.[14]

On 30 July 2012, Slovak Justice Minister Tomáš Borec announced that Slovakia was ready to prosecute against Csatáry and asked Hungary to extradite him.[15]

A file prepared by the Simon Wiesenthal Center about Csatáry implicated him in the deportation of 300 people from Kassa in 1941. In August 2012 the Budapest Prosecutor's Office dropped the charges, saying Csatáry was not in Kassa at the time and lacked the rank to organize the transports. In January 2013 it was reported that Slovak police had found a witness to corroborate other charges relating to the deportation of 15,700 Jews from Kassa from May 1944.[16]

Czechoslovakia had abolished capital punishment in 1990. Accordingly, on 28 March 2013, the Slovak County Court in Košice changed the 1948 verdict in Csatáry's case from death to life imprisonment.[17]

War-crimes indictment

On 18 June 2013, Hungarian prosecutors charged Csatáry with war crimes, saying he had abused Jews and helped to deport Jews to Auschwitz during World War II. A spokesperson for the Budapest Chief Prosecutor's Office said, "He is charged with the unlawful execution and torture of people, (thus) committing war crimes partly as a perpetrator, partly as an accomplice."[18]

The Budapest higher court suspended his case on 8 July 2013, however, because "Csatáry had already been sentenced for the crimes included in the proceedings, in former Czechoslovakia in 1948". The court also added that it was necessary to examine how the 1948 death sentence could be applied to Hungarian legal practice.[19]

Reaction

Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said about his finding:[20]

Yishayahu Schachar, Jewish survivor who encountered Csatáry, said:[21]

"I worked outside the ghetto in the brick factory, cleaning. I remember Csatary loudly screaming orders at Jews. I didn't work under him but heard the terrible things he did. I remember women digging a ditch with their hands on his orders. He was an evil man and I hope he is brought to justice."

Yishayahu Schachar (2012)

László Karsai, a Hungarian Holocaust historian and the son of a Holocaust survivor, said:[22]

"Csatáry was a small fish. I could name 2,000 people responsible for worse crimes than he was. The money spent hunting down people like him would be better spent fighting the propaganda of those who so energetically deny the Holocaust today."

László Karsai

Death

Csatáry died on 10 August 2013 from pneumonia at a hospital in Budapest, aged 98. According to daily Bors, Csatáry had been hospitalized for a long time, where he caught pneumonia.[23]

Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center stated that he was "deeply disappointed" that Csatáry had died without facing trial.[24]

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to László Csatáry.

References
  1. Extract from the Register of Deaths
  2. "Three new names on Wiesenthal Center's most-wanted Nazi list have Canadian links". The Times of Israel. 22 April 2012. Archived from the original on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  3. Vienneau, David (1 November 1996). "Ottawa launches court bid to deport 2 new alleged Nazis". Toronto Star. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  4. "Csatáry a betegeket is felrugdosta a vagonba". Népszava. 17 July 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  5. Singer, David (1988). American Jewish Year Book 1998. American Jewish Committee. p. 199. ISBN 0874951135.
  6. SWC Annual Status Report on the Worldwide Investigation and Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals (PDF). Simon Wiesenthal Centre. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2012-05-05.
  7. Szatmary, Michael (25 July 2012). "Csatáry judge in Slovakia". delet.sk (in Slovak). Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
  8. "Nazi war crimes suspect Laszlo Csatary dies". BBC News. 12 August 2013. Archived from the original on 12 August 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  9. Macivor, Carol (9 October 1997). "Hungary: Alleged Nazi Collaborator Leaves Canada". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  10. "Federal Government Names New Alleged Nazi War Criminals". B'nai Brith Canada (press release). 31 October 1996. Archived from the original on 8 December 2010. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  11. Zuroff, Efraim (June 2012). "Epilogue to Finnish edition". Operaatio viimeinen mahdollisuus [Operation Last Change] (in Finnish). Helsinki: Finnish Anti-Fascist Committee. p. 268. ISBN 9789525412550.
  12. Ashley Hayes (16 July 2012). "Officials: Alleged Nazi war criminal found in Hungary". CNN. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2012.
  13. Arne Lichtenberg (16 July 2012). "'Nazi' tracked down in Budapest". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 21 August 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  14. "Laszlo Csatary detained". BBC News Europe. 18 July 2012. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  15. "Budapest court to rule on war crime suspect Csatáry's extradition to Slovakia". politics.hu. Archived from the original on 7 June 2014. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  16. Liphshiz, Cnaan (10 January 2013). "Witness found in trial of Hungarian war criminal Csatary". Jta.org. Archived from the original on 13 January 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  17. "Csatárymu zmenili trest smrti na doživotie". Kosice.korzar.sme.sk. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
  18. "Hungarian man, 98, charged with World War II crimes: prosecutors". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 8 September 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  19. "Court suspends case of war crimes suspect Csatary". Politics.hu. Archived from the original on 8 October 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
  20. "Now that The Sun has found this war criminal he must be put on trial in Hungary. Csatary was a police commander in the ghetto of Kassa and was responsible for sending 15,700 people to death camps. He was known to be a sadist, he had a determination to round all Jews up and forcibly deport them to Poland. To achieve justice against this man will bring a degree of closure for families of the victims, for the Jewish communities of Hungary and Slovakia."
    Efraim Zuroff
  21. Parry, Ryan; Flynn, Brian (July 16, 2012). "Nail No1 Nazi". The Sun. London. Archived from the original on December 21, 2019. Retrieved July 16, 2012.
  22. "Laszlo Csatary: Is Hungary's Nazi suspect worth pursuing?". BBC. 17 July 2012. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  23. "Nazi-era war-crimes suspect Csatáry dies aged 98". Politics.hu. Archived from the original on 9 October 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  24. "Nazi war crimes suspect Laszlo Csatary dies". BBC News. 12 August 2013. Archived from the original on 12 August 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
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