https://www.npr.org/2018/08/21/6404...ign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20180821
Alleged Nazi Labor Camp Guard Deported To Germany
August 21, 20189:10 AM ET
U.S. officials say a 95-year-old former Nazi labor camp guard named Jakiw Palij who lied about his wartime work when he immigrated to the United States has been deported to Germany.
Palij, who lived in Queens in New York City, was investigated and denaturalized more than a decade ago. His deportation was ordered in 2004. But for years, no country would take him in.
On Monday, he was sent to Germany, according to the State Department. The Department of Justice says Palij is the 68th Nazi removed from the U.S.
In a statement, the White House praised the work of administration agencies, particularly Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, in deporting Palij.
"Palij's removal sends a strong message: The United States will not tolerate those who facilitated Nazi crimes and other human rights violations, and they will not find a safe haven on American soil," press secretary Sarah Sanders said in an overnight statement.
Palij was born in Poland (present-day Ukraine), the Justice Department says, and he became a U.S. citizen in 1957.
A historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum served as an expert witness in Palij's case. The museum confirms that Palij was a guard at the Trawniki labor camp in German-occupied Poland, and that he was one of the men who provided the manpower to "Operation Reinhard," the plan to murder two million Jews living in Poland.
The Justice Department wrote in a statement that Palij admitted to officials that he was trained at the SS training camp in Trawniki in the spring of 1943:
"On Nov. 3, 1943, some 6,000 Jewish men, women and children incarcerated at Trawniki were shot to death in one of the largest single massacres of the Holocaust. By helping to prevent the escape of these prisoners during his service at Trawniki, Palij played an indispensable role in ensuring that they later met their tragic fate at the hands of the Nazis."
The Trawniki camp was dissolved by the Nazis in 1944, the Holocaust Museum says.
When Palij immigrated to the U.S. in 1949, he told officials he had spent the war working on a farm and in a factory.
Decades later, when he was confronted about his past, Palij told investigators that "everybody lied" on their visas, The Associated Press reports.
After his deportation was ordered, when no country agreed to take him in, Palij "continued living in limbo in the two-story, red brick home in Queens he shared with his wife, Maria, now 86," the AP writes "His continued presence there outraged the Jewish community, attracting frequent protests over the years that featured such chants as 'your neighbor is a Nazi!' "
After lengthy negotiations, Germany agreed to take him in.
Palij has been taken to a home for the elderly in Germany, Reuters reports.
"Given his age and questions over his health and also a possible lack of proof, it is unclear whether German authorities will attempt to prosecute the stateless pensioner," the wire service writes.
Alleged Nazi Labor Camp Guard Deported To Germany
August 21, 20189:10 AM ET
U.S. officials say a 95-year-old former Nazi labor camp guard named Jakiw Palij who lied about his wartime work when he immigrated to the United States has been deported to Germany.
Palij, who lived in Queens in New York City, was investigated and denaturalized more than a decade ago. His deportation was ordered in 2004. But for years, no country would take him in.
On Monday, he was sent to Germany, according to the State Department. The Department of Justice says Palij is the 68th Nazi removed from the U.S.
In a statement, the White House praised the work of administration agencies, particularly Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, in deporting Palij.
"Palij's removal sends a strong message: The United States will not tolerate those who facilitated Nazi crimes and other human rights violations, and they will not find a safe haven on American soil," press secretary Sarah Sanders said in an overnight statement.
Palij was born in Poland (present-day Ukraine), the Justice Department says, and he became a U.S. citizen in 1957.
A historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum served as an expert witness in Palij's case. The museum confirms that Palij was a guard at the Trawniki labor camp in German-occupied Poland, and that he was one of the men who provided the manpower to "Operation Reinhard," the plan to murder two million Jews living in Poland.
The Justice Department wrote in a statement that Palij admitted to officials that he was trained at the SS training camp in Trawniki in the spring of 1943:
"On Nov. 3, 1943, some 6,000 Jewish men, women and children incarcerated at Trawniki were shot to death in one of the largest single massacres of the Holocaust. By helping to prevent the escape of these prisoners during his service at Trawniki, Palij played an indispensable role in ensuring that they later met their tragic fate at the hands of the Nazis."
The Trawniki camp was dissolved by the Nazis in 1944, the Holocaust Museum says.
When Palij immigrated to the U.S. in 1949, he told officials he had spent the war working on a farm and in a factory.
Decades later, when he was confronted about his past, Palij told investigators that "everybody lied" on their visas, The Associated Press reports.
After his deportation was ordered, when no country agreed to take him in, Palij "continued living in limbo in the two-story, red brick home in Queens he shared with his wife, Maria, now 86," the AP writes "His continued presence there outraged the Jewish community, attracting frequent protests over the years that featured such chants as 'your neighbor is a Nazi!' "
After lengthy negotiations, Germany agreed to take him in.
Palij has been taken to a home for the elderly in Germany, Reuters reports.
"Given his age and questions over his health and also a possible lack of proof, it is unclear whether German authorities will attempt to prosecute the stateless pensioner," the wire service writes.
