Nazi prosecutor who loved Bermuda is laid to rest

A prosecutor at the Nuremburg trials who made Bermuda his second home has been laid to rest.

William Caming and his wife, Kathleen, holidayed on the island for more than three decades.

The couple became popular return visitors with staff at their favourite hotel, The Belmont, as well as taxi drivers and members of the island’s legal community.

Mr Caming, who was one of the last surviving Americans to prosecute Nazi war criminals, died earlier this year at the age of 94.

A memorial service was held in his hometown of Summit, New Jersey, just last month.

This week, Leo Betschart, the former executive chef at The Belmont and close friend of the couple, paid tribute to Mr Caming.

He said: “I first met Bill Caming in 1971 when he and his wife stayed at the Belmont.

“They loved Bermuda and treated the island as their second home.

“They would return for three weeks in the spring and three weeks in the autumn every year until the mid-1990s when the Belmont closed.

“After that they stayed at the old Newstead hotel and their most recent trip was in 2005 when they stayed at Grotto Bay.

“Over the years I got to know them both very well.

“We would see each other every time they were over and have dinner, and I would go up to Dockyard with him for lunch.

“He loved the Frog and Onion because he felt it was a really traditional English pub.”

Mr Caming was chief prosecutor and deputy director of the Political Ministries Division in the Office of the US Chief Counsel for War Crimes.

He served on the prosecution team for three years at Nuremburg.

And he made history as the lead prosecutor in the Ministries Case, where 21 defendants, including three German government ministers and members of the Nazi party, stood trial for war crimes.

Mr Caming’s was the only one of 11 cases that followed the Trial of the Major War Criminals in which prosecutors secured convictions for crimes against peace.

He later went on to become an advocate for international tribunals to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity as well as a prominent figure in telecommunications law and privacy.

In November 2011 he accepted the Joshua Heintz Award for Humanitarian Achievement for his work.

Mr Betschart told the Sun: “Bill was well known and well respected by everyone he came across in Bermuda.

“He was a very quiet and humble man and had the ability to mingle with the high and the low.

“The taxi drivers loved him and he was extremely popular with the staff at The Belmont.

“His wife was known as ‘Mrs Belmont’ and from my point of view he became an institution on the island. He loved the friendliness of Bermuda and that is why he came back again and again.

“Many Bermudians would have known of Bill Caming between the 1970s and 1990s and will be sad to hear of his passing.”