BERLIN (AFP)---Germany is stepping up the hunt for one of
the last living Nazi war crimes suspects with the help of Austria, newsweekly Der Spiegel reported in its issue to be published Monday.

Nearly 45 years since his disappearance, German authorities are searching in Austria and Spain for friends and relatives of Aribert Heim, a former SS doctor accused of killing more than 300 concentration camp inmates, the report said.

Der Spiegel, which did not cite its sources, said the Austrian government was assisting the search for people believed to have had contact with the 93-year-old Heim in recent years and who could determine his whereabouts.

Germany had offered a 130,000-euro reward for information leading to the capture and conviction of Heim, who is believed to be alive and
hiding in Europe or South America.

This month Austria offered an additional 50,000 euros to anyone who could provide clues to find Heim or Alois Brunner, who worked for Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann.

Der Spiegel said an unnamed US businessman had now offered the same amount to spur on the search.

Mauthausen

Heim is believed to have killed hundreds of prisoners at the Mauthausen concentration camp in northern Austria with poison heart injections.

He disappeared in 1962 but was last tracked down in Spain about two years ago.

The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center has long accused Vienna of obstructing the search for top war crimes suspects.