Alleged Nazi War Criminal Csatary Arrested in Hungary

Csatary allegedly played a key role in the deportation of 15,700 Jews to the Auschwitz death camp.

Jul 18, 2012

Hungarian authorities have arrested alleged Nazi war criminal Laszlo Csatary in Budapest, Hungarian news agency MTI reported Wednesday.

The arrest came after Israel's Simon Wiesenthal Centre submitted new evidence to the prosecutor in Budapest last week, relating to Csatary's alleged role in the deportation of Jews from the Hungarian-occupied Slovakian town of Kosice during World War II.

Reporters with the British tabloid The Sun photographed a man believed to be Csatary in the Hungarian capital, after receiving information from the center.

In April, Csatary topped the Wiesenthal Centre's annual list of "most wanted Nazis." The centre works to bring Nazi war criminals to justice.

Csatary was the police chief of Kosice during World War II and, in the spring of 1944, allegedly played a key role in the deportation of 15,700 Jews to the Auschwitz death camp.

After the war, a Hungarian court sentenced him to death in absentia. He had fled to Canada, but was stripped of his Canadian citizenship in 1997 and voluntarily left that country.

László Csatary. A screenshot from British newspaper "The Sun."