

Western Australian politician praises Nazi war criminal uncle

A member of the Western Australian Parliament has praised his Nazi war criminal uncle, saying he did "positive things" despite being convicted of sending French Jews to the death camps.
Peter Abetz, brother of Liberal Senator Eric Abetz, made the comments while being interviewed on SBS program Insight on Tuesday night.
His great uncle, Otto Abetz, was Hitler's ambassador to occupied France and convicted in 1949 of deporting French Jews to extermination camps.
Mr Abetz said his reaction was "mixed" when he found out about his family's Nazi past.
"He did some really positive things, but he also did participate in, you know, the deportation of the Jews, which is really, there's no excuse for that whatsoever and yet, he also did some very positive things," Mr Abetz said.
"I was told that he - when the Americans were advancing on Paris - because he was so passionate about French culture, he actually negotiated with the Americans... that the Germans would vacate Paris and not booby trap anything if the Americans gave them, I think, three or four days to withdraw."
"The French were incredibly grateful for that because that way, Paris wasn't actually destroyed."
Mr Abetz admitted that he had been "very moved" during a past visit to the Holocaust memorial in Israel.
"I found that a very, very moving experience and the horror of thinking that, you know, I had a great uncle who was actually involved in that horror," he said.
Mr Abetz was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly in 2008 by a margin of 1.65 percent - representing the Liberal Party in the marginal seat of Southern River, which takes in Perth's southern suburbs.
Otto Abetz was sentenced to 20 years hard labour by a French court in 1949, but freed in 1954 by French president René Coty.
He died in 1958 after a car crash in Germany.
Otto Abetz, pictured, was Hitler's ambassador to occupied France (Source: SBS/Insight) ()
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