Tasmanian Senator confirms links with Nazi war criminal
{image-Tasmania senetor_03032008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Melbourne, Mar 3: A Tasmanian Senator has confirmed that he is distantly related to a Nazi war criminal. Eric Abetz of the Liberal Party and the Opposition's deputy leader in the Senate, said his great uncle was Otto Abetz, a high-ranking SS officer during World War II.
Otto
Abetz
sent
tens
of
thousands
of
Jews
to
their
deaths.
He
was
Adolf
Hitler's
ambassador
to
France
from
1940
to
1944.
Abetz
was
convicted
for
war
crimes,
including
the
deportation
of
French
Jews
to
death
camps,
and
looted
Jewish
art
worth
millions
of
dollars,
reports
news.com.au.
Senator
Abetz,
who
arrived
in
Australia
in
1961
from
Germany,
said:
"I
never
met
my
grandfather's
brother,
Otto
Abetz.
I
ask
all
Australians
to
judge
me
on
my
public
conduct
rather
than
on
the
past
of
my
father's
uncle.
I
have
dedicated
myself
to
public
service
and
furthering
democratic
freedoms."
Neither
Opposition
Leader
Brendan
Nelson
nor
Prime
Minister
Kevin
Rudd
have
commented
on
the
issue.
ANI