An interview with a suspected Nazi-era war criminal is set to air on New Zealand television for the first time on Thursday, where he graphically described the slaughter of Jews during World War II.
Jonas Pukas, a member of the 12th Lithuanian Police Battalion, was accused of taking part in the massacres, and was recorded on tape describing how the murdered "screamed like geese" when shot.
According to official transcripts, released in 2006. Pukas luaghed exclaiming that, they "fly in air" and made the sound of wailing birds. Pukas went on to say,
"Some of the Jews used to scream like that, like the geese."
The interview was conducted in 1992 by Wayne Stringer, who was investigating 47 possible war criminals identified by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre. With no witnesses coming forward to identify or testify against Pukas, he died in 1994 whilst living in Auckland, aged 80.
Stringer commented,
"I got far more emotionally involved in the war crimes investigation that anything else I'd ever done in the police.""Genocide is still occurring in all sorts of places around the world."
"That's why this film is important."
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