A warrant accusing Otto Skorzeny, formerly a high official in the Nazi SS, of having committed war crimes, was issued here this weekend by the Austrian Ministry of Justice.
According to the charges, Skorzeny had invented a poison-loaded piston which, under his supervision, was tested on Jewish inmates at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was also accused of part responsibility for the demolition of two synagogues in this city during the Nazi regime.
Skorzeny, an Austrian citizen, now lives in Madrid, where he conducts an export-import business. It is believed unlikely that the Spanish Government would extradite him.
Skorzeny gained notoriety in 1943 when he led a German commando that temporarily rescued the late Benito Mussolini, after the fall of the fascist regime in Italy. In 1947, he was tried but acquitted by an Allied War Crimes tribunal, when he was accused of torturing and murdering about 100 Americans who had been taken prisoners by the German army during the war.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
