Achen court rules former Dutch SSer to be jailed in Germany

ACHEN – A Dutch member of the SS who was given the death penalty in absentia after WWII, and who later had his sentence commuted to life, still must serve his sentence. Although the man’s identity was not revealed, it is thought that the Achen, Germany court ruling concerns Heinrich Boere who in 1944 was part of a covert German liquidation program to take out suspected members of the Dutch resistance. In a renewed effort in 1980 to round up Nazi collaborators and war criminals, the Dutch government sought the extradition of Boere who had escaped to Germany in the early 1950s after having lived in hiding for several years. In 2003, the Dutch government asked Germany to carry out Boere’s sentence, to which it eventually agreed. Boere, who is 85, has the right to appeal the Achen decision.