The “fifth most wanted Nazi” who escaped from a Dutch prison after being convicted of mass murder in 1957 has been hiding in Germany, according to a report in the British Sun.
The Sun tracked Faber, 88, and his wife Jacoba in the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt where they are living out their retirement.
Faber volunteered for the SS during WWII and worked in a Gestapo death squad. He was convicted of murdering at least twenty-two people, mainly Jews and Dutch resistance fighters. During his trial, the court heard testimonies that he had personally participated in mass shootings, leading experts to believe he had been responsible for many more killings.
Sentenced to death for war crimes in 1947, Faber's sentence was commuted to life in prison.
On Boxing Day in 1952, however, Faber and six other Nazi officers escaped from Breda prison in the Netherlands. Since his escape to Germany, German authorities have rejected foreign demands to hand him over.
Born in the Netherlands, Faber is protected from extradition because he was granted German citizenship under the “Fuhrer’s Law,” a personal decree from Hitler granting German citizenship to any foreign Nazi volunteers.
Speaking about Faber, Simon Wiesenthal Centre director Efraim Zuroff said, “He is one of the most evil men alive. For Germany to continue shielding him is a shocking stain on the nation’s reputation.”
“The families of those he killed deserve justice, and it’s time for Germany to stop hiding behind a law that Hitler brought in,” he added.
According to German privacy laws, Germans cannot be told that Faber is a war criminal. According to a Germany authorities, “Klaas Faber is a German citizen and cannot be extradited for this.” In 2006, German state prosecutors decided to classify Faber’s crimes as manslaughter. According to the Sun, “[A] time limit on trying him in Germany - which does not apply to murder - has now expired.”
