Apr. 17, 1963 - Former Nazi officer Erich Rajakowitsch, alleged right-hand man of Adolf Eichmann, turned himself in to Austrian authorities today. He will be tried as a war criminal, officials said. Police said he was arrested on charges that he was responsible for sending thousands of Dutch and Austrian Jews to the gas chambers during World War II. One of his alleged victims was Anne Frank, the Jewish girl whose diary of life in Holland during the Nazi occupation became a best-seller as a book and a widely acclaimed play and movie. Rajakowitsch had been missing for over a week since he was expelled from Switzerland. He will stay in jail “until all investigations are concluded so he can be put on trial,” court authorities said. Officials said the former S.S. officer appeared “very surprised” when he was put in jail. His lawyer, Johann Dostal, told newsmen that Rajakowitsch “considers himself innocent and feels he is not guilty of the crimes laid on him.”
