Karlis Aleksandrs Ozols:

Harrowing charges of Nazi war crimes have been levelled against a chess master who participated in the Kemeri, 1937 tournament alongside such figures as Alekhine, Fine, Flohr, Keres, Reshevsky and Tartakower. A densely-documented 12-page report by Zandy Alter and Michael Kapel in The Australia/Israel Review Vol. 22 No. 14 (1-22 October 1997) states that Karlis Ozols ‘executed thousands of Jews and liquidated entire Latvian villages during World War II'. Among the specific claims are that on 1 July 1941 he joined the Latvian Security Police in Riga; that in early 1942 he was trained at Fürstenberg (Germany), an establishment run by the Sicherheitsdienst (the security service of Himmler's SS); that he commanded a unit of about 100 Latvians which, between 24 July 1942 and 27 September 1943, assisted in the transportation, guarding and execution of Jews; that between July 1942 and September 1943 over 10,000 Jews from the Minsk ghetto were murdered, with Ozols personally carrying out some killings; that on 8-9 February 1943 Ozols and 110 Latvians under his command assisted the SS to kill more than 2,000 Jews of the Slutz ghetto. ‘The killings [open-air shootings and gas vans] were efficiently organized. Orders directly from Hitler were passed down the SS hierarchy to the Latvian officers under their command.' On 20 April 1944 Ozols was promoted to the rank of Obersturmführer and was decorated with the KVK II (Kriegsverdienstkreuz – the War Merit Cross). The following December, he disappeared.

The birth-date given in standard chess sources is 9 October (Gregorian calendar), but in a letter to us dated 7 November 1988 Ozols wrote:

‘My date of birth is 9th August 1912, in Riga, Latvia.'

Ozols has never been prosecuted for war crimes. A detailed enquiry into his wartime record was carried out in Australia by a Special Investigations Unit, which concluded that he was ‘the highest ranking alleged war criminal living in Australia'. The Unit prepared detailed evidence against him, on which the report by The Australia/Israel Review was to draw extensively, and in June 1992 the Senior Counsel advised the Director of Public Prosecutions that a prima facie case existed against Ozols concerning war crimes and genocide. However, that same month the Federal Government shut down the Unit. The Director of Public Prosecutions wished to continue, but was stopped by the Attorney General. The case was closed.

Karlis Ozols, Chess Master, at a Chess Tournament

-----

Karlis Ozols, Part One:

Karlis Ozols was born in Riga, Latvia (then part of the Russian Empire), on 8 September 1912. He studied law at Riga University but became a professional chess player and played for Latvia in the 1936 Munich and 1937 Stockholm Chess Olympiads.

When the Nazi troops occupied Latvia in 1941, special troops were created consisting of local population who chose to join. These troops were under the supervision of Nazi SD – Heinrich Himmler's Security Service. The so-called Arajs Kommando under command of Victors Arajs operated in Latvia. Victor Arajs was the Commander of the infamous Arajs Kommando, which operated in Latvia together with Karlis Ozols unit as a killing squad for the German authorities. In 1979, the German authorities captured Arajs in Hamburg and placed him on trial. He was convicted of mass murder and received a life sentence. The extent of the Arajs Kommando's atrocities was amongst some of the worst in World War II. The German trial indictment noted that in only one period, between July and December 1941, 70,000 Jews in Latvia were murdered by the Kommando in 'killing actions'. The members of the commando were sent to a German SD training school at Furstenberg, Germany. This school was mainly used to prepare men for mass murder.

Between March and June 1942, Ozols trained at Furstenberg with the Arajs Kommando. After his training, Ozols was posted to Minsk (the capital of Belorussia) on 24 July 1942 as a Lieutenant in charge of a Latvian SD Commando of about 100 men. The principal tasks of the Commando were to guard the SD installations, including the ghettos of Minsk and nearby ghettos and concentration camps, to assist in the transportation and guarding of Jews selected to be killed and to guard the killing pits in case someone survived the execution.

On the 28 July 1942 there was a mass killing of Jews in the Minsk ghetto and in the village Maley Trostenets near Minsk. Ozols allegedly personally killed civilians and commanded the Latvian SD guard that performed the executions. Those who were brought alive were shot (open air killings). Others were brought in sealed vans (gas-van killings) which were designed to gas the occupants to death using the vehicle's exhaust fumes. Each van held 60 to 70 victims standing tightly pressed together.

The killings at Maley Trostenets were open air shootings of Jews into pits. The Jews were taken in batches (men first) from the collecting point to the ditch. Trucks then brought the Jews in batches to the ditch, where they were unloaded with the help of rifles and whips. They had to take off their clothes and submit to searches. Then they were shot either in front of the ditch or by the 'sardine' method in the ditch by the SD units commanded by Ozols.

On 8 - 9 February 1943 Ozols and his commando allegedly assisted the Germans to kill more than 2,000 Jews of the Slutzk ghetto, a village near Minsk, after transporting them to pits outside the town.

See caption on the next picture for part 2

Karlis Ozols, Part Two:

After the war, Ozols escaped the Russian forces and hid in German displaced persons camps where he forged International Refugee Organisation documents for him and his wife and child.

In 1949 Ozols travelled to Australia on the Mozzafari and was naturalised in Victoria on 17 October 1956. He settled in Melbourne as his fellow commander in the Arajs Kommand killing unit, Konrad Kalejs, and soon became a chess champion and Australian representative at international tournaments. He also worked with the Australian wing of an international group, Daugavas Vanagi (the Hawks of Daugavas, named after the main Latvian river). Made up of 1,200 members at its peak, the local Hawks are an organisation of former Latvian SS men in Australia.

During the investigation into the case of Victor Arajs in Hamburg in 1979, the West German Court convened in Melbourne in October 1979 to take unsworn evidence from Karlis Ozols, who said he knew nothing at all about atrocities against Jews and Gypsies. Nevertheless, the Court dismissed Ozols's evidence on the grounds that he was a member of the Arajs Commando as early as 1941.

During the investigation into the case of Victor Arajs in Hamburg in 1979, the West German Court convened in Melbourne in October 1979 to take unsworn evidence from Karlis Ozols, who said he knew nothing at all about atrocities against Jews and Gypsies. Nevertheless, the Court dismissed Ozols's evidence on the grounds that he was a member of the Arajs Commando as early as 1941.

In 1986 a journalist Mark Aarons broadcast a programme "Nazis in Australia" that raised allegations and evidence about Nazi war criminals who had been allowed to emigrate to Australia, many with the knowledge of Australian authorities.

The report and subsequent investigations ultimately led to the establishment in 1987 of a Special Investigations Unit (SIU) within the Attorney General's portfolio. The SIU would investigate and prosecute under the now amended War Crimes Act 1945 any individuals found to be residing in Australia who had committed crimes against humanity during World War II. By the time of its forced closure by the Federal Government in June 1992, 834 cases had been referred to the SIU for investigation.

By 1992, only four cases had been referred by the SIU to the Director of Public Prosections (DPP) for prosecution. Three of them had gone to trial, Ivan Polyukhovich, Mikolay Berezovsky and Heinrich Wagner. But the most serious case, codenamed PU 38, was against Karlis Ozols.

The Prosecutor's Office received testimonies of the soldiers under his command who were serving sentences for war crimes in other countries. According to the testimonies, Ozols ordered his soldiers to exterminate the Jewish population of the Minsk ghetto, killed Jewish civilians himself, placed Jewish civilians in sealed trucks, and turned the exhaust tubes into the cabins and gassed 60 at a time. The investigation suggested that Ozols "is the highest ranking alleged war criminal living in Australia"

A search warrant for Ozols' premises in Melbourne had already been executed and further evidence obtained. The evidence was reviewed by a Melbourne counsel Peter Faris. On 28 June 1992, he concluded that a prima facie case existed against Ozols for crimes against humanity, for mass murder and for war crimes. Faris formulated following draft charges:

(i) That, between 24 July 1942 and 27 September 1943, in Minsk, Belorussian SSR, USSR, Ozols, whilst a Lieutenant of the SD and being a member of that organisation, was knowingly concerned in the internment of persons in the Minsk ghetto, a slave labour camp, or a place where persons are subject to treatment similar to that undergone in a slave labour camp, which persons were a number of men, women and children whose names are unknown and whose numbers were not less than 25,000, and ... [ allegations of racial and religious persecution in an occupied country etc.] (sections 6(5)(c) and 7 of War Crimes Act).

(ii) That at the same time and place Ozols aided and abetted the said internment (sections 6(5)(b) and 7 of the War Crimes Act).

(iii) That at the same time and place Ozols conspired with his Commanding Officers of the SD and with the Latvian men of his company to intern the said persons (sections 6(5)(a) and 7 of the War Crimes Act).

(iv) That at the same time and place and on more than one occasion, Ozols murdered a number of persons, including elderly persons and children, whose names and number are unknown.

(v) Aid and abet murders.

(vii) Conspiracy to murder.

Similar charges were formulated regarding the mass executions of the civilians in Slutsk ghetto and in the village of Maley Trostenets

In June 1992, the Senior Counsel advised the Director of Public Prosecutions that a prima facie case existed against Ozols on charges of war crimes and genocide. However, the Unit was shut down by the Federal Government, seemingly because the prosecution of old Nazis was not considered a successful election strategy. The Director of Public Prosecutions wanted to bring up the charges against Ozols but the Attorney General stopped him.

In March 1993, the Australian Police reported that there was little chance in pursuing Ozols' case to finality. Ozols' case was closed

In 2001 Karlis Ozols died a free man.

Kemeri chess tournament, 1937. Front row from left to right: V. Petrovs, F. Apscheneek, A. Melnbārdis, K. Bētiņš, H. Kmoch, S. Landau, S. Flohr, P. Keres, E. Steiner.
Behind: J. Kalniņš, E. Giese, P. Ķeirans, V. Mikenas, M. Feigins, K. Ozols, L. Rellstab, E. Böök, S. Tartakower, A. Kanenbergs, A. Alekhine, G. Ståhlberg.

------

Kārlis Ozols (9 August 1912, Riga – 23 March 2001, Australia) was a Latvian-Australian chess player.
Ozols represented Latvia on eighth board (+7 -1 =7) in the unofficial Chess Olympiad, at Munich 1936, where he won the individual bronze medal. He also played on fourth board (+2 -5 =3) in the 7th Olympiad at Stockholm 1937.
In 1937, he tied for 17-18th in Kemeri. The event was won by three players: Salo Flohr, Vladimirs Petrovs and Samuel Reshevsky. In 1939, he took 16th in Kemeri-Riga (Flohr won). In 1941, he took 8th in Riga (1st Latvian SSR-ch, Alexander Koblencs won). In 1944, he won the Riga championship. In spring 1945, he left Riga by sea just ahead of the advancing Soviet forces, landing in West Germany, and spent the next several years in various D.P. (Displaced Persons) camps across Germany. As did other DPs from the Baltic countries after World War II, he played in a number of small international events, including The Matisons Memorial Tourney in Hanau (near Frankfurt) in 1947, which was won by his fellow Latvian Lūcijs Endzelīns, ahead of Elmārs Zemgalis, Efim Bogoljubow and Hönlinger. Ozols was equal fifth.
He immigrated to Australia in 1949. Ozols won the Victorian Championship nine times. He jointly won the Australian Championship in 1956 and became an International Master at Correspondence Chess in 1972.
Ozols was accused of taking part in war atrocities during World War II, but never prosecuted.

From: wiki