Nazi labor camp guard caught by ICE, deported to Germany, White House says
The last known Nazi collaborator living in the United States – a 95-year-old former camp guard who played an "indispensable role" in the murders of thousands of Jews – was deported to Germany from his New York City home early Tuesday morning, the White House announced.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents implemented a 2004 deportation order against Jakiw Palij, who immigrated to the United States in 1949 and became a citizen in 1957 after concealing his Nazi background, the statement read.
#BREAKING: Early morning release from the White House says ICE has deported a former Nazi labor camp guard who was living in New York City. pic.twitter.com/OxGgcj1qsP
— David Charns WMTW (@DavidWMTW) August 21, 2018
Palij admitted to Department of Justice officials in 2003 that he trained at a Nazi camp in German-occupied Poland. Court documents indicated that men who trained at the SS Training camp in Trawniki carried out the Nazi regime’s plan to murder Jews in Poland.
The 95-year-old also served as an armed guard at the adjacent Trawniki Labor Camp – where he played an “indispensable role” in the death of roughly 6,000 Jews who were killed in one of the single largest massacres of the Holocaust in 1943, according to the statement.
Palij, who claimed he was working on a farm and in a factory during World War II, had his U.S. citizenship revoked in 2003 by a federal judge, and ordered to be deported a year later. His appeal was denied in 2005.
This 1942 photo provided by the the public prosecutor's office in Hamburg via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, shows Heinrich Himmler, center left, shaking hands with new guard recruits at the Trawniki concentration camp in Nazi occupied Poland. Trawniki is the same camp, where some time after this photo was made, Jakiw Palij trained and served as a guard. The White House says that Palij, a 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard has been deported to Germany, 14 years after a judge ordered his expulsion. (public prosecutor's office in Hamburg via the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum via AP)
Palij admitted to Department of Justice officials in 2003 that he trained at a Nazi camp in German-occupied Poland. (AP)
After the war, Palij maintained friendships with other Nazi guards who the government says came to the U.S. under similar false pretenses. And in an interesting coincidence, Palij and his wife purchased their Queens home near LaGuardia Airport in 1966 from a Polish Jewish couple who had survived the Holocaust and were not aware of his past.
“Through extensive negotiations, President Trump and his team secured Palij’s deportation to Germany and advanced the United States’ collaborative efforts with a key European ally,” the statement read.
The State Department later issued a statement saying Germany has re-admitted Palij.
In meetings with senior officials this week, Ambassador @RichardGrenell continued the 12-year U.S. government push for Germany to accept Nazi collaborator Jakiw Palij.
— US-Botschaft Berlin (@usbotschaft) May 18, 2018
Palij’s deportation process had been hindered over Germany’s unwillingness to take him back because he is not a German citizen, ABC News reported.
President Trump tasked U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell to ensure Palij’s deportation was on the top of his list when he arrived to Berlin, according to the outlet.
In a special ceremony at the White House on Monday, Trump honored two agencies – Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection – however, as ABC News noted Palij was not mentioned.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/08/21/nazi-labor-camp-guard-caught-by-ice-deported-to-germany-white-house-says.html