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Austria removes Nazi camp guard's name from war memorial

Austria's Defence Minister has removed the name of a Nazi war criminal from a register of World War II victims at a monument in Heroes' Square in Vienna, following an outcry from activists.

20 June 2012 - Last updated 07:14AM
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Josef Vallaster.

Photo: Josef Vallaster.

Minister Norbert Darabos scratched concentration camp guard Josef Vallaster's name from the registry at a crypt commemorating victims of the war in historic Heldenplatz, or Heroes' Square.   

Such names "have no place in a decent memorial", Darabos told Austrian news agency APA.   
Vallaster was responsible for the deaths of ill and handicapped people in northern Austria before joining the Sobibor death camp in Poland in 1942. He was killed a year later during the most successful uprising by Jewish prisoners at a Nazi death camp.   
The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre had asked Austrian authorities to check if Nazis figured in the nine lists of war dead at the monument and if so, to remove them -- something officials have been doing with the help of historians
 
Source: EJP
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