Imre Finta (2 September 1912 – 1 December 2003) was the first person prosecuted under Canada's war crimes legislation. He was charged in 1987 and acquitted in 1990.

Early life

Finta was born in Kolozsvár (modern-day Cluj-Napoca, Romania). He studied law at a university in

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

in the 1930s. In 1935 he enrolled at the Royal Hungarian Military Academy. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie on January 1, 1939, and was promoted to the rank of captain on April 5, 1942. Imre Finta was a commander of the Gendarmerie in

, Hungary, during the Second World War. He immigrated to Canada in 1948 and settled in Toronto in 1953, where he bought a restaurant. He later operated a catering business. Finta became a Canadian citizen in 1956. During the late 1970s Finta worked at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville Ontario.

War crimes prosecution

He was accused of committing manslaughter, kidnapping, unlawful confinement and robbery in relation to his alleged activities as a police officer assisting the Nazis in the forced deportation of 8,617 Jews from Szeged during the Holocaust. Finta was defended by lawyers Doug Christie and

Barbara Kulaszka Barbara Kulaszka (1952/1953 – June 15, 2017) was a Canadian lawyer who practised law in Brighton, Ontario, known for her work with far-right causes, defending alleged Nazi war criminals and Holocaust deniers, and free speech cases. Practice Kula ...

and was supported by far-right figures such as Ernst Zündel. Finta's defence argued that he had only been following orders and was only responsible for transporting Jews. Finta was acquitted after a six-month jury trial. The acquittal was upheld in a 3-2 vote by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1992, and a 4-3 vote by the

Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...

in 1993. Justice

Peter Cory Peter deCarteret Cory, (October 25, 1925 – April 7, 2020) was a puisne judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, from 1989 to 1999. Early life and education Born in Windsor, Ontario, the son of Andrew and Mildred (Beresford Howe) Cory, he was ed ...

, writing on behalf of the Supreme Court, said "Even where the orders are manifestly unlawful, the defence of obedience to superior orders and the peace-officer defence will be available in those circumstances where the accused had no moral choice as to whether to follow the order." Among the reasons for the Supreme Court accepting Finta's defense were that there was "Jewish sentiment in favour of the Allied forces" and Finta himself believed "the Jews were subversive and disloyal to the war efforts of Hungary." The decision brought to an end prosecutions under Canada's nascent war crimes legislation. Thereafter, the government attempted to deal with alleged war criminals by stripping them of their Canadian citizenship and deporting them to the country in which the alleged crime occurred.

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

Sabina Citron prevailed in a civil lawsuit for libel against Finta, after Finta called her a liar for saying he had committed war crimes.

Death

On December 1, 2003, Finta died in his sleep at a nursing home in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Finta, Imre 1912 births 2003 deaths People from Szeged People indicted for war crimes People acquitted of international crimes Holocaust perpetrators in Hungary Hungarian collaborators with Nazi Germany People acquitted of kidnapping Police misconduct in Canada Hungarian military personnel of World War II Hungarian emigrants to Canada Holocaust trials

Early life

War crimes prosecution

Death

See also

References