Nazi hunters search Chile, Argentina for 'Dr Death'
SANTIAGO (AFP) — Nazi hunters from the Simon Wiesenthal Center arrived here Monday to search for notorious German war criminal Aribert Heim, 94, known as "Dr Death," believed to be hiding in Chile or Argentina, a center official told AFP.
The delegation is headed by the center's Israel office chief and top Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff, and its ongoing "Operation Last Chance" will take them to Puerto Montt, in southern Chile, and Bariloche, in southeastern Argentina, Sergio Widder said.
Puerto Montt is home to Heim's daughter Waltraud and could be where he is currently staying, the Wiesenthal center's representative in Latin America said.
The second-most wanted Nazi criminal on the center's list, Heim is wanted for the murder of hundreds of inmates at the infamous Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria during World War II.
Heim was arrested by US troops in 1945 but was released two and a half years later in what the Wiesenthal Center calls suspicious circumstances.
He later practiced as a gynecologist in Germany and fled in 1962 when authorities were set to arrest him.
Germany, Austria and the center have put up a reward totaling 310,000 euros (459,000 dollars) for information leading to Heim's arrest and prosecution.
