ry Tribunals held after World War II in
Nuremberg on 20 November 1945 and in Tokyo on 3 May 1946 are excellent
examples of how such crimes of war are dealt with. (Roberts and Guelff
153-54) But, rather than elaborate on exact details of the Tribunals
of Nuremberg and Tokyo a more important matter must be dealt with.
What happens when alleged criminals of war are unable to be
apprehended and justly tried? Are they forgotten about, or are they
sought after such as other criminals are in order to serve justice?
What happens if these alleged violators are found residing somewhere
other than where their pursuers want to bring them to justice? How
does one go about legally obtaining the custody of one such suspect?
Some of the answers to these questions can be found in an analysis of
how Israel went about obtaining the custody of individuals that it
thought to be guilty of Nazi War Crimes. Not only will one find some
of the answers to the previously stated questions, but also one will
gain an understanding of one facet of international law and how it
Two cases in specific will be dealt with here. First, the
extradition of Adolf Eichmann from Argentina, and second, the
extradition of John Demjanjuk from the United States of America. These
cases demonstrate two very different ways that Israel went about
obtaining the custody of these alleged criminals. The cases also
expose the intricacy of International Law in matters of extradition.
But, before we begin to examine each of these cases we must first
establish Israel's right to judicial processing of alleged Nazi war
To understand the complications involved in Israel placing
suspected Nazi war criminals on trial, lets review the history of
Israel's situation. During World War II the Nazis were persecuting
Jews in their concentration camps. At this time the state of Israel
did not exist. The ending of the war mea...