MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
Civil and Police Department
Police Division
DK 1216 KØBENHAVN K., DENMARK
OutRage!
6 JULI 1999
Our ref. 1999-945-1188
By letter of 16 March 1998 OutRage! requested the help of the Danish Government to discover the fate of Carl Peter Værnet, a Nazi doctor who fled to Argentina after the Second World War. The Prime Minister forwarded the request by letter of 8 June 1999 to the Ministry of Justice.
The Ministry of Justice can inform you that the records from that period are kept in the Danish National Archives (Rigsarkivet) and in provincial archives and the ministry is therefore not in possession of any information about Carl Peter Værnet. The Ministry of Justice has today forwarded your letter to Rigsarkivet, Rigsdagsgården 9, 1218 København K., for its consideration.
Attention is drawn to the fact that in certain circumstances, inter alia regarding information relating to the private conditions of individual persons and to criminal justice cases, the expiry of the time-limit as to when access can be granted is 80 years. However, under certain circumstances this time-limit can be exempted from. Requests for exemption should be directed to the Archives concerned.
Best regards,
Mogens Kjærgaard Møller
OutRage!
Mogens Kjærgaard Møller
Police Division
Civil & Police Department
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
DK 1216 København K
Denmark
9 July 1999
HUB00244 Your Ref: 1999-945-1188
Dear Mogens Kjærgaard Møller
Greetings!
Thanks for your letter dated 6 July 1999. I appreciate your kindness in replying in English. My apologies for being unable to write to you in Danish.
While OutRage! is grateful for your response, we are very concerned at the length of time it has taken to reply to our letter of 16 March 1998 (more than a year!), and at the unsatisfactory nature of the reply.
With respect, it is not adequate to refer us to the Danish National Archives. Our request is not a matter for archivists or historians. It concerns the bringing to justice of a Nazi doctor who, on the known evidence, perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity, contrary to international law. Other Nazi doctors who committed similar barbarisms were put on trial at Nuremberg (Nürnberg) and either sentenced to death or to long periods of imprisonment.
The Danish government has a moral and legal obligation to investigate and uncover the full truth about Dr. Værnet's alleged involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity. It also has a duty to investigate how Dr. Værnet escaped trial and punishment at the end of the 1939-45 war, including how he managed to evade justice and who aided his escape to Argentina.
None of these questions, raised in our letter of 16 March 1998 to the Danish Prime Minister, have been answered.
I would therefore ask you to reconsider our three-page letter of 16 March 1998 (a copy follows). Please reply to all 7 questions on page three. Thank you and best wishes.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Tatchell
Statens Arkiver Rigsarkivet
| Lokaltelefon | Reference | Journalnummer | Dato |
| MM-JPN | 1999-6131.1331 | 1999-07-15 |
OutRage!
The Danish National Archives (the Rigsarkivet) has 6 July 1999 received your letter of 16 March 1998 concerning information on the Nazi doctor Carl Peter Væmet. As you will know from the reply by the Ministry of Justice your letter was forwarded to the Rigsarkivet.
In reply we can inform you that the Rigsarkivet cannot undertake investigation of the kind involved. Normally people visit our reading room, where the staff help to examine the records. But in this case, according to the Danish Archival Act, an exemption from the 80 years limit of access, is a first condition for any examination of the documents on Væmet.
However, we have identified relevant files among the records delivered from the Ministry of Justice, the Rigsadvokaten (the Danish State's solicitor) and the the Rigspolitiet (the State Police), but -still according to the Archival Act- the Rigsarkivet is not allowed to grant an exemption from the limit of access without permission from the mentioned authorities. Before we ask these authorities for consent as to an exemption, we need some more information on your purpose of the investigation.
For further information on the Rigsarkivet we suggest you to visit our website (http://www.sa.dk) which also includes an English version. [It appears that the only English on this site is the title. -- 18th August, OutRage!]
Yours sincerely,
Margit Mogensen
Archivist
The Public Department
OutRage!
Archivist
The Public Department
Statens Arkiver Rigsarkivet
17 July 1999
Your Ref: MM-JPN Journalnummer 1999-6131.1331
Dear Margit Mogensen,
Thanks for your letter dated 15 July 1999. I appreciate your kindness in replying in English. My apologies for being unable to write to you in Danish.
While OutRage! is grateful for your response, the investigation of the Nazi doctor, Carl Værnet, is not my responsibility or that of the Rigsarkivet. It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice to investigate criminal acts.
It is alleged that Dr. Værnet, a Danish citizen, perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity in violation of international law, during the Nazi era.
He stands accused of medically abusing, torturing and murdering homosexual prisoners interned in Nazi-run concentration camps. Other Nazi doctors who committed similar barbarisms were put on trial at Nuremberg and sentenced to death or imprisonment.
My request is for the opening of a criminal investigation, with a view to the prosecution of Dr. Værnet (if he is still alive).
The Ministry of Justice has a moral and legal obligation to investigate and uncover the full truth about Dr. Værnet's alleged involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It also has a duty to investigate and explain how Dr. Værnet escaped Danish jurisdiction after the war, and to bring to trial those Danish citizens who aided the escape of this alleged war criminal.
I would therefore respectfully request that you refer my letter back to the Ministry of Justice, and that it replies in full to the 7 questions set out on page three of my letter of 16 March 1998 to the Danish Prime Minister. Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Tatchell.
OutRage!
Police Division
Civil and Police Department
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE
Denmark
17 July 1999
Your Ref: HUB00244 1999-945-1188
Dear Mogens Kjærgaard Møller,
Further to my fax of 9 July 1999, there follows a copy of the letter I have faxed today to Margit Mogensen at the Statens Arkiver Rigsarkivet.
I would take this opportunity to reiterate that what I am seeking is a criminal investigation into:
allegations that Dr. Værnet committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, with a view to his prosecution (if he is still alive); allegations that Danish citizens aided and abetted Dr. Værnet's escape to Argentina, with a view to those responsible being prosecuted (if they are still alive).
These are matters that can only be dealt with by the Ministry of Justice.
I would be grateful to receive your assurance that a criminal investigation will now be opened, and that you will give me a copy of its findings and decisions in due course.
Thank you for your continuing assistance.
Warmest wishes,
Peter Tatchell.
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