Alleged Nazi Labor Camp Guard Deported To Germany
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," the AP writes. Palij's wife has since died. "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.
Tags
Who is online
94 visitors

I don't care if he's old and sick, prosecute him!
I don't care if he's old and sick, prosecute him!
Well of course there are many who believe that the Holocaust never actually happened..or variations of that belief:
Well that guy is just a dick
I'd never heard of your video's bishop Richard Williamson but a quick read shows that he's a radical who was illicitly ordained as a bishop and was excommunicated.
By the way, there are many documented secular US, British, Canadian, and French people (among others) who deny that the Holocaust occurred.
Just sayin'!
That is not an accurate statement by the journalist.
A far western section of then Soviet Ukraine came under control by Poland for a period of time.
The statement provided by the author leads the reader to assume all of Soviet Ukraine was part of Poland at the time of the nazi's birth.
Most likely would not have happened had Lenin not made the decided attempt to commit genocide against the Cossacks.
from the seed source, at least 10 Nazi's are known to have had their US citizenship removed but cannot be deported if extradition isn't sought by Germany, Poland or the current Ukraine.
Let Nazis, new fangled Neo-Nazis or plain olde school Nazis, be on notice. Nazis are not welcome here or anywhere else, except to die...
NYT archives: