Karlis Ozols couldn't believe his luck. He had found his way to Melbourne, Australia, thousands of miles away from his Latvian home and yet he could still get a good chess game in. His partner this week at the local Latvian Venta chess club was smart. A shrewd player who he had not encountered before. He enjoyed Mr Rozens' strategy, cunning like a Jew, as it were. Of course, as Karlis knew, Rozens was a Jew. Best to concentrate on the game before Rozens beat him, although Karlis knew it unlikely - three years in this country and he had encountered few of these young naive Australians who understood the craft and skill of deception.At officer training school in Furstenberg, Germany, the SS had trained him well. Karlis Ozols had studied hard and knew that he had mastered the skills of concealment and deceit. After the war these had served him well. First, he had escaped the Russian forces who had conducted a house to house search for him in his hometown of Riga, and then he had slipped past those clumsy American intelligence officers who were scouring German displaced persons camps for suspects hiding from the Nuremberg Trials.
By comparison, the Australian immigration officers in Europe had been naifs. Untrained young men, in a country they didn't understand, in a culture that was foreign and a language they could not penetrate. Indeed, the interview with the Australian selection officer in Berlin had been comical. A few quick questions, a health check and a cursory glance at his International Refugee Organisation documents. They were forged, of course. Easy enough to arrange in post-war Germany. Thankfully, Erika had kept so many of those jewels he had given her and on the black market they still fetched a few marks.
Jewish jewellery. How often those dead Jews had still been wearing their diamond rings or gold necklaces. When the bodies were still warm, lying naked and contorted in the pits after the aktions, you could slide the rings off easily. But if you waited too long, rigor mortis set in; the body would become hard and swollen and it was always an ordeal to slip the rings off. Aktion. The Germans used the word to describe the killing of Jews by the Einsatzgruppen units who worked with his company. It was a clean word. The Germans, they liked everything clean, and always with those unnecessary euphemisms.
When those orders had arrived to liquidate the Jews in the Slutzk ghetto the Germans had described it as an aktion. It was a bloody affair. Open pits, screaming, pleading, begging. So much noise that night. So much blood. After the executions, Ozols' men had spent the night trying to bury the blood but it ran so thick and deep that it kept soaking through the piles of dirt they were shoveling into the pits. But how distant all that seemed now in this young easy country... And how easy it all had been.
Karlis Ozols was born in Riga, Latvia, in 1912. In 1949 he travelled to Australia on the Mozzafari and was naturalised in Victoria in 1956. Life in Australia had been good to him. He became a chess champion -Victorian champion in 1956 and later, Australian champion and representative at international tournaments.
He took it all in his stride. After all, Ozols had played for Latvia in the 1936 Munich and 1937 Stockholm Chess Olympiads and was not just a chess master of Australia, but also of Germany where he had placed high in competitions in Augsburg 1946, Schleisheim 1947, Hanau 1947. In November 1957, Chess World magazine reported that Ozols had either won or been placed in the top three in the Victorian championships from 1949 until 1956.
"Ozols is tall, thin, has a back like a ram rod and a peculiarly strident voice," the magazine reported. "Of the masters who have come to Australia since World War II, Ozols has taken the biggest part in competitive play and has been the most successful." And for 37 years the deception had been very successful.
But in 1986 Mark Aarons, a dogged journalist with ABC radio, finally broadcast years of research. It was called "Nazis in Australia" and went to air on the Background Briefing program on April 13 1986. The program raised dramatic allegations and evidence about Nazi war criminals who had been allowed to emigrate to Australia, many with the knowledge of Australian authorities.
The report and subsequent investigations ultimately led to the establishment in 1987 of a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) within the Attorney General's portfolio. The SIU would investigate and prosecute under the now amended War Crimes Act 1945 any individuals found to be residing in Australia who had committed crimes against humanity during World War II. Mr Robert Greenwood, QC, was appointed the unit's first director. By the time of its forced closure by the Federal Government in June 1992, 834 cases had been referred to the SIU for investigation.
By 1992, only four cases had been referred by the SIU to the Director of Public Prosections (DPP) for prosecution. Three of them had gone to trial, Ivan Polyukhovich, Mikolay Berezovsky and Heinrich Wagner. But the most serious case, the fourth case that the unit had been amassing evidence against for five years, was codenamed PU 38. Investigators had travelled around the world seeking depositions, witness statements and evidence against PU38.
Whereas with the first three cases the accused had been charged with the murder of dozens or possibly hundreds of innocent civilians, the evidence against PU 38 showed that he had been an officer who had ordered the destruction of thousands and thousands of innocent Jewish civilians. That he had personally executed women and children, and that he had commanded the liquidation of entire villages and ghettos of Jewish civilians.
This man, the soldiers under his command had testified, had ordered them to exterminate the Jewish population of the Minsk ghetto, had placed Jewish civilians in sealed trucks, and turned the exhaust tubes into the cabins and gassed 60 at a time. PU38's name was kept secret but the investigation into him continued, and evidence mounted.
In 1992 the Federal Government announced that the Special Investgations Unit would be closed down. Three unsuccessful prosecutions, mounting public pressure and attacks, particularly by the then Liberal Opposition and growing expenditure had taken its toll on the Government's resolve to continue to finance the body.
With only weeks until the closure of the unit on the 30 June 1992, a furious battle developed between the SIU, the Attorney General, Michael Duffy, Cabinet and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions over the fourth and most significant case, PU 38 - Karlis Ozols.
Confident of the considerable weight of evidence that the SIU had amassed on Ozols, the SIU passed its case on to the Director of Public Prosecutions to establish if a case existed against Ozols. A search warrant for Ozols' premises in Melbourne had already been executed and further evidence obtained. The DPP took the evidence and briefed a leading Melbourne QC, and a former Director of the National Crime Authority, Peter Faris, to review the material with a view to the possibility of prosecution.
For weeks, Mr Faris sifted through the evidence and met with investigators and researchers in the SIU. On June 28 1992, he concluded his advice to the DPP, noting that while some further research still needed to be completed which he estimated as taking about three months, a prima facie case existed against Ozols for crimes against humanity, for mass murder and for war crimes.
Mr Faris set out a number of charges and advised "It would be wrong to shut the investigation down now. Justice demands that the investigation be completed."
The DPP sought to continue the investigation but the then Attorney-General, Michael Duffy, refused and referred the matter to the Australian Federal Police, where the files remained in a drawer. No prosecution was ever commenced. The investigation was not completed.
In March this year a statement was released by the Attorney-General, Daryl Williams, which announced that the case into Ozols was now closed. "In the Director of Public Prosecutions' view the existing material was insufficient and the incomplete case was referred to the Australian Federal Police," the statement said. "The AFP concluded that there was little chance of success in pursuing this case to finality."
Until now the documentation surrounding Karlis Ozols has remained tightly restricted by the Federal Police and the Attorney General's Department. Indeed, the full circumstances surrounding Karlis Ozols were never truly known and were omitted from the final report to Parliament by the SIU.
But now the Review has obtained confidential documents about the Ozols case, including the Faris opinion for the Director of Public Prosecutions' office and documentation from the SIU records. These reports state categorically that Karlis Ozols "is the highest ranking alleged war criminal living in Australia" and that "he and his company have been directly or indirectly involved in the mass murder of thousands of people".
The Review has also obtained previously confidential documentation from the files of the SIU, which indicates that the Special Investigations Unit had amassed an unprecedented volume of evidence and documentation about Karlis Ozols revealing the shocking crimes against humanity that he had allegedly committed.
Today, Karlis Ozols lives in Melbourne. For the past 40 years he has resided in the same town as his fellow commander in the Arajs Kommand killing unit, Konrad Kalejs.
In his report to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, Peter Faris spells out the enormity of Ozols' alleged crimes.
"The evidence establishes a strong prima facie case of guilt of war crimes against Karlis Ozols (born in Latvia on 9 August 1912), a naturalised Australian citizen, resident in the State of Victoria. The evidence establishes four counts of genocide. Genocide is a crime against humanity. The victims of the crimes were mostly Jewish men, women and children. They numbered thousands. All the crimes were committed in and around Minsk, Belorussia, between 24 July 1942 and 27 September 1943. At the time, Ozols was a Lieutenant in charge of a Company of about 100 Latvian men. He is the highest ranking alleged war criminal living in Australia. A number of his men will give evidence against him.
"In the course of committing these crimes he has murdered people. Upon his orders, the men under his command have murdered people. He and his Company have been directly or indirectly involved in the mass murder of thousands of people. These are serious offences carrying a possible penalty of imprisonment for life. Australia has an international duty to properly investigate, prosecute and punish war criminals like Ozols. In my opinion, it would be wrong to end this matter without further investigation."
Faris then outlines the enormous body of evidence amassed on Karlis Ozols by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU):
"I have been provided with written material in the Brief and oral material in a number of conferences with Professor Konrad Kwiet (consultant historian with the Special Investigations Unit) and other members of the SIU. The written material provided to me is as follows:
Memorandum to Counsel.Faris notes in his advice to the DPP that the investigation by the SIU which concerns events in Europe in 1942 and 1943 showed that the unit which Ozols commanded was involved in the mass murder of Jews.
Witness statements from members of the Latvian Company commanded by Ozols (in the form of transcripts, protocols and summaries).
Witness statements from Jewish survivors in similar form.
Summaries by SIU historians Professor Konrad Kwiet, Jurgen Mathaus and Richard Breitman.
Copies and translations of a number of historical documents being:
SS file of Ozols dated 27 November 1944.
University questionnaire completed by Ozols dated 11 December1942.
Prisoner of War records of Ozols.
International Refugee Organisation documents for Ozols, his wife and child dated 1948.
Australian Naturalisation documents for Ozols and his wife dated 1956.
Australian Federal Police records (dated 16 December 1965) of inquiries into allegations that Ozols was a war criminal and including notes that, I am instructed, are notes of an interview with Ozols.
German Request for Assistance (dated 24 September 1979) for Ozols to give evidence in the Arajs trial.
Signed statement of Ozols dated 8 October 1979 as a result of the above Request.
Command Order (in translation) dated 5 February 1943 for the resettlement" of the Jews of Slutzk on February 8 and 9 1943.
"The evidence shows that Ozols, a Latvian, was the Lieutenant of a Latvian unit of the SD and SIPO stationed in Minsk (capital of Belorussia, USSR) between 24 July 1942 and 27 September 1943. He was in command of a Company of about 100 Latvians. The principal tasks of the Company were to guard SD installations, including the ghettos of Minsk and nearby ghettos and concentration camps, to assist in the transportation and guarding of Jews selected to be killed and to guard the killing pits. They also sometimes killed the Jews at those pits."
The killings were efficiently organised. Orders directly from Hitler were passed down the SS hierarchy to the Latvian officers under their command. The killings were organised and carried out by a number of organisations including the SD (Sicherheitdienst - the Security Service) and the SIPO (Sicherheitpolizei - the Security Police). These SS units trained elite Latvian units, who then entered into killing actions either together with or on orders of the German commanders. Ozols was a senior officer in the same Latvian SD company which formed the notorious Arajs Kommando in which recently returned Nazi war criminal Konrad Kalejs served as an officer. Indeed, Faris notes, "the Latvian Company which Ozols commanded was responsible to the SD and the SIPO jointly. Ozols himself was a member of and an officer in the SD."
"The three principal killing methods were open air shootings, gas vans and death camps (such as Auschwitz). The first two methods were operating in Minsk in 1942 and 1943. When the German army invaded it was followed immediately by Einsatzgruppen units whose task was to kill Jews and others during the military occupation. As the Army moved east so did they. Civilian administration was then set up in the occupied territories and the SD/SIPO and other units became responsible for carrying out the killings.
"After occupation the Germans decided to use Companies of ethnic groups attached to SD/SIPO. In particular, in Latvia a large group was formed and named the Arajs Kommando after its leader Victors Arajs. These men were sent to a German SD training school at Furstenberg, near Berlin. In early 1942 Ozols trained at Furstenberg with the Arajs Kommando although he may not have been a member. After training, some of the Kommandos under the command of Arajs were stationed in Latvia where they killed the Latvian Jews. The Latvian Kommandos were seen by the Germans as a reliable force. After his training, Ozols was posted to Minsk (the capital of Belorussia) on 24 July 1942 as a Lieutenant in charge of a Latvian SD Company of about 100 men, most of whom had been trained at Furstenberg in the Arajs Kommand.
"On the 28 July, that is, 4 days after Ozols arrived, there was a mass killing of Jews in the Minsk ghetto ... On the evidence presented to me, there is a prima facie case that Ozols committed four crimes of genocide in and around Minsk between July 1942 and September 1943. It is important to note that Ozols is the highest ranking alleged war criminal living in Australia. His alleged war crimes are of a far greater magnitude than the others".
Maley Trostenets was a village close to Minsk and the sight of mass executions into pits of Latvian Jews by Latvian SD units. Faris writes in his brief that "at the pits near Maley Trostenets, Ozols killed people (probably Jews) and commanded the Latvian SD guard there ... Jews and others, men, women and children, were brought to the pits. Those who were brought alive were shot (open air killings). Others were brought in sealed vans (gas-van killings) which were designed to gas the occupants to death using the vehicle's exhaust fumes. The dead were buried. The victims usually came from the Minsk ghetto or were brought from other countries by train to the Minsk area.
"The evidence (and the inferences to be drawn from it) shows that, on occasions,:
(i) Ozols killed people at the pits;The killings at Maley Trostenets were open air shootings of Jews into pits. The Jews were taken in batches (men first) from the collecting point to the ditch. Trucks then brought the Jews in batches to the ditch, where they were unloaded with the help of rifles and whips. They had to take off their clothes and submit to searches. Then they were shot either in front of the ditch or by the 'sardine' method in the ditch by the SD units commanded by Ozols.
(ii) Latvians under Ozols' command guarded the area of the pits whilst people were being killed and whilst gas-truck loads dead of people were arriving for burial;
(iii)Sometimes Ozols was present during this;
(iv) The Latvians were present at the pits as a result of commands given to them, directly or indirectly, by Ozols;
(v) The Latvians killed people."
German technicians also developed gas vans which were trucks with the carbon monoxide of the exhaust pumped through a hose into the van's interior. Each van held 60 to 70 victims standing tightly pressed together.
In 1942 two vans were sent to Minsk and used in killing operations of Jews with each van making four or five daily trips. Not only is Ozols believed to have participated in these killings but he is also believed to have issued many of the orders to his unit to undertake them. The SIU located a number of former members of Ozols' company. Their evidence, provided to Faris, further implicated Ozols.
"I have been supplied with a collection of interviews, protocols, statements and summaries from nine surviving members of the Latvian company commanded by Ozols. They are Brudzitis, Upmalis and Zuika. I have been supplied with summaries of the statements of Bruls and Emsins. With relation to the pits at Maly Trostenets they say:
"Brudzitis arrived at Minsk from Furstenberg in November 1942 and joined the Latvian SD company, Ozols being the commander. There was only one such Latvian company in Minsk. Generally, he describes the duties of the Company as including guarding the pits whilst gas vans brought bodies for burial. His commanding officer Ozols was present in the general area. He describes two specific occasions in summer 1943 when the bodies were taken out of the gas vans in the presence of Ozols. The duties were performed at the direction of Ozols. In summer 1943 both the witness and Ozols left Minsk for Riga.
"Emsins was posted to Minsk in summer 1942 to serve in Ozols' company. He gives evidence of other Aktions.
"Mikhelson was trained at Furstenberg and was posted to Minsk in July 1942 where he served under Ozols until March/April 1943. He describes an occasion where Latvian company members guarded the pits while gas vans brought bodies for burial.
"Prozis trained at Furstenberg and in September 1942 was posted to Minsk where Ozols was his commanding officer. He does not describe duties at the pits, but refers to duties in the forest searching for looters. He describes other Aktions.
"Aleksandr Rudzitis trained at Furstenberg where he met Ozols. He was posted to Minsk in Ozols' company of 80-100 Latvians. He describes the Germans killing Jews at the Minsk ghetto and using gas vans. The bodies were buried at pits about 10 kilometres out of town. Ozols' company carried out guard duties at burial-pits. Ozols was aware of the duties carried out by his men. Ozols received his orders from higher up and passed them on to his Company through his subordinates. "Paulis Rudzitis (the brother of the previous witness) trained at Furstenberg where his commander was Ozols. He was posted to the SD Company in Minsk in summer 1942. He describes an occasion where his company was guarding an area in a forest 20-25 kilometres out of Minsk. Jews were being shot and buried in pits. Ozols was present. Some of the shooters were Latvians from Ozols' Company who had volunteered for the task. The witness left Minsk in Autumn 1943.
"Upmalis trained at Furstenberg with Ozols. He was posted to Ozols' Company in Minsk in August 1942. This was the only such Latvian company in Minsk.
"Zuika trained at Furstenberg and in autumn 1942 was posted to the Latvian SD Company in Minsk under the command of Ozols. The Company was divided into two groups, one operational and one for guard duty. He states that between autumn 1942 and summer 1943 (that is, almost the whole time that Ozols was in Minsk) there were a number of occasions where he was on guard duty at burial pits some distance outside Minsk where civilians were shot. Ozols and his Company Sergeant-Major, Runka, shot people. At another point in his interrogation, Zuika says he did not actually see Ozols shoot but he saw Ozols with a machine gun. Ozols had received a list of those to be killed. Ozols gave orders to 8-15 Latvians to shoot people. Men and women were brought from Minsk to be killed. There were three to six people shooting at a time and about 30 people a day were shot. On other occasions, gas vans arrived with the dead bodies of men, women and children which were thrown into the pits."
The Faris brief said there was a prima facie case that Ozols had committed a war crime, namely genocide, a crime against humanity (section 7). The following were draft charges:
"(i) That, between 24 July 1942 and 27 September 1943 and on more than one occasion, at or near to Maly Trostenets, Belorussia SSR, USSR, Ozols, whilst a Lieutenant of the Sichherneitdienst (SD) and being a member of that organisation, murdered a number of men, women and children whose names are unknown and whose numbers were more than thirty and which murders were :
(a) committed on behalf of, or in the interests of the Government of Germany, being a power engaged in an occupation of Belorussia; and(ii) That at the same time and place he aided and abetted the said murders (sections 6(1)(k)(ii) and
(b) committed in the course of political, racial and religious persecution of the Jews and other people; and
(c) committed with intent to destroy in whole or in part the Jews, being a racial or religious group, as such; and
(d) committed in the territory of the USSR, a country, territory of which, namely Belorussia, was subject to an occupation (sections 6(1)(a) and 7).
(iii) That at the same time and place he was knowingly concerned in the said murders (sections 6(1)(k)(iii) and 7).
(iv) That at the same time and place he conspired with his Commanding Officers of the SD and with the Latvian men of the Company he commanded to commit the said murders (sections 6(1)(k)(i) and 7).
THE MINSK GHETTO
From time to time, it was the duty of the Latvians under the command of Ozols to guard the Minsk ghetto. The men were guarding the ghetto as a result of commands given to them, directly or indirectly, by Ozols. The purpose of the Minsk ghetto was to be a central collection point for Jews and others prior to them being killed. The Jews were from Belorussia, other parts of the USSR and other countries. Some Jews were killed inside the ghetto or died there as a result of the bad conditions. Others were taken to Maley Trostenets to be killed.
Faris notes: "The use of Minsk and other ghettos was part of the policy of the German Government in its aim to exterminate the Jews. The evidence of the Latvians shows that the Company guarded the Minsk ghetto from time to time. The Jews who survived the Minsk ghetto give evidence of the condition and circumstances of daily life inside it. The evidence of the historians proves the German policies. It is my view that the Minsk ghetto was "a slave labour camp, or a place where persons are subjected to treatment similar to that undergone in a ... slave labour camp" for the purposes of section 6(4) of the Act.
"In its very nature, the ghetto was to prevent the dispersal of the victims and to facilitate their future seizure for shootings ... (Hilberg 349)... In January 1942 there were 22,000 to 25,000 Jews in the Minsk ghetto (15,000 to 18,000 Russian Jews and 7,000 German Jews) (Hilberg 354-5). When ghettos became too full to take new transhipments of Jews a massacre of the current inhabitants was carried out to create the requisite space.
"On the 28 July, that is, four days after his arrival, there was a large pogrom and the killing lasted three days. Germans and "non-German" policemen entered the ghetto and the policemen shot the Jews. Men, woman and children lay dead in the streets. Whilst the evidence as it stands does not conclusively prove that Ozols and his men were involved, the fact that he knew of it can be conclusively inferred. Thus, in taking part in the guarding of the ghetto, he was aware of the purpose the existence of the ghetto fulfilled.
"A number of the witnesses state that one of the duties of the Company was guard duty of SD establishments and some specifically nominate the Minsk ghetto as one of the places guarded. Some witnesses state that persons who were killed at Maley Trostenets came from the ghetto.
"Emsins says that in 1942 he was stationed at Baranovichi (about 150 kilometres south-west of Minsk) with a platoon from Ozols' Company. He returned to Minsk to attend the dentist. Other men in Ozols' Company told him that the Company had taken part in the execution of Jews in the Minsk ghetto ... Mikhelson says that he guarded the ghetto on one occasion only. He saw Germans putting elderly people and children into gas vans.
"Aleksandr Rudzitis says that they guarded the administration buildings in Minsk. He says that the Germans carried out regular exterminations of the Jews in the ghetto, from where they taken to burial pits. On one occasion he was detailed to check the ghetto to see if any Jews were hiding. A number of Jews were found and they were either shot or killed with an axe. The practice was that orders to the men came from Ozols who in turn, got them from the Germans.
"Zuika says that one group of the Company performed guard duty. He says that men and women were brought from the ghetto to the pits and shot by Ozols, Latvians and Germans."
The following are draft charges:
(i) That, between 24 July 1942 and 27 September 1943, in Minsk, Belorussian SSR, USSR, Ozols, whilst a Lieutenant of the SD and being a member of that organisation, was knowingly concerned in the internment of persons in the Minsk ghetto, a slave labour camp, or a place where persons are subject to treatment similar to that undergone in a slave labour camp, which persons were a number of men, women and children whose names are unknown and whose numbers were not less than 25,000, and ... [ allegations of racial and religious persecution in an occupied country etc.] (sections 6(5)(c) and 7).
(ii) That at the same time and place Ozols aided and abetted the said internment (sections 6(5)(b) and 7).
(iii) That at the same time and place Ozols conspired with his Commanding Officers of the SD and with the Latvian men of his company to intern the said persons (sections 6(5)(a) and 7).
(iv) That at the same time and place and on more than one occasion, Ozols murdered a number of persons, including elderly persons and children, whose names and number are unknown.
(v) Aid and abet murders - see (iv).
(vii) Conspiracy to murder - see (iv).
THE SLUTZK GHETTO
On 8 and 9 February 1943 Ozols and all the 110 Latvians under his command assisted the Germans to kill more than 2,000 Jews of the Slutzk ghetto after transporting them to pits outside the town, according to Faris's report. Slutzk was a village to the south of Minsk. It had one of the few remaining Jewish ghettos in Belorussia. The Slutzk ghetto was thus extinguished. Faris deals with this extensively.
"A written Command Order dated Minsk, 5 February 1942, signed by SS Obersturmfphrer Strauch was directed to the Commanders of the SIPO and the SD in White Ruthenia (the German name for White Russia or Belorussia). Significant features of the document (which appears on Pg 11) are:
(i) Ozols is directed to be a participant. Although he is described as 'Hilfsbeamten Osols (sic) which is translated as "supernumerary" and his name is misspelt. Professor Kwiet is satisfied from all the surrounding historical evidence that this is a reference to Ozols. It is to be noted also that the Aktion whereby Jews from a ghetto are shot in a pit in the countryside mirrors the evidence in statements of the Latvian witnesses describing the killings at Maly Trostenets."There is abundant undisputed historical material as to the liquidation of the Slutzk ghetto. I do not have clear estimate as to the number of Jews killed but 2,000 seems to be a minimum figure. On any view, this was a major operation. The entire ghetto was liquidated. A large force was used, including the 110 Latvians and 63 named German officers, non-commissioned officers and men, 9 named interpreters, 6 named supernumeraries (including Ozols) and 6 named auxiliary staff, a total of 194. In charge of the operation was SS Obersturmfuhrer Muller. Hilberg suggests that the minimum ratio of the Aktion force to the ghetto Jews was 10:1, and often 20:1 or higher. This would produce a population of the Slutzk ghetto of 2,000 or possibly 4,000.
(ii) On the other hand, Ozols, who was a SD Lieutenant at Minsk at the time, is not named in the list of officers detailed to stay behind in Minsk.
(iii) Abundant historical evidence supports the liquidation of the Slutzk ghetto by this Aktion.
(iv) Resettlement' means killing" and is the term used throughout the Final Solution for the killing of Jews. This proposition is not only evidenced by undisputed historical evidence but by an examination of the document itself. The Command Order contemplates there being Jewish property which will become "available"; the Jews are to be transported to a resettlement site , not to a named place; at the sites there will be two pits at which teams will work in two hourly shifts from 8am to 4pm (daylight hours in February in Belorussia); and two German officers are made responsible "for handing out ammunition at the resettlement site that is, at the pits.
(v) The 110 members of the Latvian Volunteers company are specifically to participate. Professor Kwiet is of the opinion, after examining all the surrounding historical evidence, that this is a reference to the company commanded by Ozols. Thus both he and his Company are at the scene and his men are to carry out designated tasks.
(vi) The role of Latvians is designated: they are to assist with the "utilisation of the Jewish property" (10 Latvians); "the rounding up of the Jews in the ghetto"; riding as guards on the trucks transporting the Jews from Slutzk to the pits - 6 trucks with 4 Latvians each (24 Latvians); and securing or guarding the pits (10 Latvians). If the calculation is accurate, this disposes of 98 Latvians to designated tasks, all directly related to the killings. The balance of 12 would be unavailable for some reason (illness etc) or be in reserve.
vii) The command structure necessitates that Lieutenant Ozols would receive these orders on behalf of his men and that he would be directly or indirectly responsible for assigning to them the particular tasks.
There is a prima facie case that Ozols has committed a war crime, namely genocide, a crime against humanity (section 7). The following are draft charges:
(i) That on 8 and 9 February 1943, at or near to Slutzk, Belorussia SSR, USSR, Ozols, whilst a Lieutenant of the SD and being a member of that organisation, murdered a number of men, women and children whose names are unknown and whose numbers were more than 2,000 ...[here set out the circumstances of genocide as detailed above in the charge of murder at Maley Trostenets].Faris notes that further witness statements will be required and evidence prepared to enable charges to be laid. "Despite there being a prima facie case, charges cannot presently be laid because the matter needs further investigation. The evidence needs be put in proper order before there could be a prosecution. That would take three months."
(ii) Aid and abet murder: see Maley Trostenets for the form of the charge.
(iii)Knowingly concerned in murder: again see Maley Trostenets.
(iv) Conspiracy to murder: again see Maley Trostenets.
But with the evidence prepared for prosection Faris then states "....it is my view that the circumstances are so overwhelming and the period of time so long (14 months) that, putting aside evidence of direct killing by Ozols, a jury would find that, beyond reasonable doubt, he knew that his men were, upon his orders, either killing, assisting in the killing or guarding.
"Further, the evidence is equally strong that he knew that this was all done in the pursuit of a policy of genocide.I believe that knowledge can be established beyond reasonable doubt, and that upon further investigation, the evidence will probably become stronger."
"The changed political situation in Latvia, Belorussia and Russia means that new archives or archival material is available. Further searches must be done with regard to the Aktions under investigation. Apart from producing documentary evidence, it is very likely that new witnesses will be identified...I am told that in the last few days a list of names of previously unknown witnesses has been provided by the Russians. Not only will they need to be located and interviewed but also this confirms the opinion of members of the SIU who believe more evidence can be discovered, partly because of the radically changed political climate in Northern and Eastern Europe."
"The SIU has carefully researched the identity of the Mr. Karlis Ozols in Victoria. Without here going through the available evidence, it is my opinion that identity has been established beyond reasonable doubt. Date and place of birth, names of wife and child, education, military training and service and many other particulars establish identity Ozols' movements after leaving Minsk are sufficiently documented to trace him to Australia. He came to Australia on 25 March 1949 and was naturalised on 17 October 1956... He has admitted his identity some years ago in other war crimes investigations. Whilst these admissions may possibly be inadmissible, they have provided absolute comfort to the SIU investigators that they have got the right man...
"The historians to the SIU are satisfied that the documentary evidence upon which they rely are valid original documents. At all times they have been aware of the allegations that the Russians have forged war crimes documents. The historians are satisfied that there are no forgeries in this case...
"It seems to me that there is no reason why the further investigations that I have outlined cannot be completed within three months. The matter must be treated as one of the greatest urgency. I believe it would then take 3-4 weeks to collate the evidence. Once this was done, a final decision would be made to either lay charges or to end the investigation. I believe that the evidence establishes a prima facie case of a number of counts of war crimes. ... It would be wrong to shut the investigation down now. Justice demands that the investigation be completed."
In a letter dated 3 September 1992, the Attorney General, Michael Duffy, advised Isi Leibler, co-chairman of the World Jewish Congress, that the Ozols case had been considered by himself and Cabinet but that the SIU would be closed down and no prosecution would take place. In reference to the Faris report Mr Duffy advised Mr Leibler "Counsel's report, while recomending that a prosecution be brought, had concluded that further investigations were required before the material available could be regarded as suitable for a brief." While the Faris report does indicate this, it also makes clear that after five years of investigation a very strong case existed, only requiring several months work to prepare the evidentiary material. But Mr Duffy continues "it was not possible to predict with any certainty that further investigations would produce material providing a sufficient basis for the laying of charges. In the light of the Cabinet decision, it will not be possible for the Prosecution Support Unit to conduct any further inquiries into this matter."
But the Review has learned that although Duffy had advised the Jewish community that further investigations were unlikely to provide necessary information, a very different sequence of events was unfolding in the SIU offices in the last month of its existence.
On 5 June 1992, some three weeks before Faris completed his brief for the DPP and the SIU was to be closed down, the SIU received information from the Department of Justice in Canada. The Canadians advised them that as a result of the new political climate in the USSR they had recently conducted research in the KGB archives in Riga and in the course of that research had come across further witness testimonies mentioning Karlis Ozols. Until this time, the SIU had been unsuccessful in its repeated requests for access to this information, but suddenly and literally at the last hour as Faris had suggested the long sought after files were opening up.
With only days to go the SIU commissioned a Latvian historian to carry out research at the KGB archives. The historian prepared a preliminary report, a copy of which the Review has obtained and which indicates that the files of previous investigations would provide a treasure trove of further documentation and witness statements from soldiers who had served with Karlis Ozols. The preliminary report received at the SIU on June 10 1992 notes that Lieutenant Rolands Skambergs testified that in July 1942 he was seconded to Minsk to Lieutenant Ozols, who was an Arajs Kommando unit commander.
It reports that Eriks Druvinsh testified in 1946 that in July 1942 he came to Minsk as one of about 80 persons who formed an Arajs Kommando unit under the command of Ozols "who was also a famous chess player. Ozols was at Furstenberg school during March 1942 and June 1942, then returned to Minsk and took part in the liquidation of Jews kept in Minsk ghetto."
There is the evidence of Zigfrids Leflers, who in 1947 testified that upon finishing Furstenberg officers school in July 1942 he "returned to Riga and in September went to Minsk as a member of Ltn Ozols' company". There, he was fighting partisans as an SD guard. As a member of this unit he testifies that he "took part in the liquidation of Minsk Jews using gas wagons."
Or there is the evidence from Alberts Saukitens, who testified in 1962 that at the end of May 1942 some 40 persons under the command of Ltn Kushkis and Ltn Ozols went to Minsk in a bus. "In July 1942 he guarded the place where Jews were shot 16km from Minsk. On Ltn Ozols' orders he also took Jews from Minsk ghetto to a shooting place." Or there was Aleksandrs Darzinsh, a member of the Arajs Kommando who testified that after finishing at Furstenberg school he had joined Lieutenant Ozols' company in Minsk and that in July 1942 he had taken part in guarding the shooting of the Minsk ghetto prisoners.
Arnolds Zuika testified that he was a member of the Arajs Kommando who came to Minsk in August and as one of Lieutenant Ozols' company shot those arrested by the SD. At least 13 similar accounts are identified in the preliminary report, together with other possible documentation and cases which should be looked at.
Three weeks later the SIU ceased to operate. On July 1 the SIU sent a letter to the DPP seeking permission to "finalise the Ozols investigation in accordance with the advice of Senior Counsel" (Faris). A second letter to this effect was sent to the Attorney-General two weeks later on 17 July. The Attorney-General advised the unit on 30 July that permission to continue had been denied.
Perhaps one of the most remarkable aspects of this failure to prosecute Karlis Ozols is the fact that long before the broadcast of Mark Aarons' revelations on ABC radio, and long before the establishment of the SIU and all its investigations the Australian Government knew about the presence of Karlis Ozols in Melbourne.
Victor Arajs was the Commander of the infamous Arajs Kommando, which operated in Latvia together with Karlis Ozols unit as a killing squad for the German authorities. In 1979, the German authorities captured Arajs in Hamburg and placed him on trial. He was convicted of mass murder and received a life sentence. The extent of the Arajs Kommando's atrocities were amongst some of the worst in World War II (Konrad Kalejs was also an officer serving under Victor Arajs). The German trial indictment noted that in only one period, between July and December 1941, 70,000 Jews in Latvia were murdered by the Kommando in 'killing actions'.
The State Court of Hamburg requested in 1979 that the Australian Government assist them with their investigations into the Arajs atrocities. The Review has learned from SIU documents that German authorities travelled to Melbourne to obtain testimony from Karlis Ozols. When interviewed on October 8 1979, Ozols stated that he was in Riga when the Germans arrived in 1941 and former officers of the Latvian reserve were requested to offer their services. He had been a Lieutenant and reported to Colonel Weiss. Ozols stated that in the spring of 1942 he had joined the second battalion of Victor Arajs' Kommando. Ozols testified that he had only performed guard duties, but that he had been at Furstenberg until about June 1942, then to Riga and after that Minsk. Ozols told the German authorities he had no knowledge of Victor Arajs or his men taking part in the execution of Jews.
The presiding Judge of the State Court of Hamburg, Dr Wagner, dismissed Ozols' evidence stating "This witness is suspected of already having been a member of the Arajs Kommando as early as Summer 1941. His testimony is not suitable."
Karlis Ozols refused to talk to the Review this week when he was contacted for a response. However, his wife claimed that all the wartime killings that had taken place in Latvia had been conducted by Jews.
She also told the Review that she has evidence that "Jews who worked for the KGB are responsible" for the claims against her husband. Mrs Ozols said that the stories about her husband "are wrong" and that they have no further comment. When asked whether her husband had been the subject of investigations by the SIU, she said it was "none of your business".
Copyright © 1997 J.O.I.N.