The Simon Wiesenthal Center has identified three Nazi war criminals in its latest efforts under "Operation: Last Chance," a campaign to track down perpetrators of crimes during the Holocaust before it is too late to bring them to justice.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has identified three Nazi war criminals in its latest efforts under "Operation: Last Chance," a campaign to track down perpetrators of crimes during the Holocaust before it is too late to bring them to justice.

The center kicked off the final phase of the project in Germany on Wednesday, announcing that the German government has asked it to focus on finding Aribert Heim. A doctor during World War II, "he personally murdered hundreds of Jews" at Buchewald, Mauthausen and Sachsenhausen, according to Dr. Efraim Zuroff, who heads the Wiesenthal Center´s Jerusalem office.

Zuroff said the authorities are almost certain he´s alive because he still has a bank account with more than Euro 1 million in Berlin. His heirs "have failed to notify the bank with the details of his demise, which means he ain´t dead," he added.

In a second case, a female guard at Majdanek has been identified as alive and well and living in Vienna. But the center lacks specific information on the nature of her crimes, which is necessary to prosecute her. Zuroff said her name could not be released due to legal considerations.

The center is also seeking the murderers of Marianne Cohen, a Jewish resistance fighter who was killed in France, stripped and photographed with Nazi soldiers. At a press conference Wednesday, the center displayed photos of Cohen and her murderers in its request for information and assistance.

"This is one of those brutal, horrific, humiliating crimes that exposes the cruelty of the Nazis," Zuroff said. "People like this have to be brought to trial even if they´re 105 years old." Since Operation: Last Chance began two and a half years ago in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the center has already received leads on some 325 suspects. It has since been launched in six other countries, including Germany, which was added Wednesday, a day ahead of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and Germany´s Holocaust Remembrance Day. (© 1995-2005, The Jerusalem Post 01/28/05)