In 1986, Rabbis Hier and Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal center met with Swedish diplomats,to discuss prosecution of specific residents of Sweden for Nazi war crimes during World War II. Most of those residents were originally from other parts of Europe, mainly the Baltics. Several months later, the Swedish prime minister informed the rabbis that all of the suspects were or had been residents of Sweden, that eight of the twelve were deceased, and that the government had decided that day at its most recent Cabinet meeting not to take any action in response to the Wiesenthal Center’s request, primarily because of the existence in Sweden since 1926 of a statute of limitations of 25 years on the prosecution of the crimes alleged.
The Swedish Prime Minister claimed to understand how the questionable nature of his response would be felt but argued that Sweden’s refusal to take legal action against local Nazi war criminals should under no circumstances be misconstrued as a lack of concern regarding war crimes generally and those of the Holocaust in particular.
@simonwiesenthalcenter
#holocaust, #refusaltoprosecute, #nowarcrimepenalties, #swedendeclinestoprosecute
