Canada court grants stay to Nazi interpreter on revocation of citizenship News
Canada court grants stay to Nazi interpreter on revocation of citizenship

The Canadian Federal Court of Appeals has overturned [text] a lower court decision [text, PDF], holding that accused Nazi war criminal Helmut Oberlander cannot be stripped of his Canadian citizenship at this time. Oberlander was an interpreter for Einsatzkommando 10a [backgrounder], a Nazi death squad responsible for killing two million people, but it is unknown if Oberlander was acting under duress, and such a question must be resolved prior to his citizenship being stripped. The question of Oberlander’s citizenship [The Star report] has been an ongoing issue for the Canadian government. Starting in 1995, Oberlander’s citizenship has been revoked in a series of court decisions but a final decision resulting in deportation has never been resolved.

The continued prosecution of Nazi party members has been an ongoing international problem. The US has designated that the Department of Justice Office of Special Investigations (OSI) [official websites] will handle cases aimed at denaturalizing or deporting former Nazis who participated in wartime persecutions. Over the past several years the US has questioned the citizenship of multiple suspected Nazi members and has begun criminal proceedings against many of them. John Hansl of Des Moines Iowa, Peter Egner of Washington, Anton Geiser of Pennsylania, John Demjanjuk of Ohio, and Johann Leprich [JURIST reports] have all had their citizenship placed under investigation and most are in the midst of criminal investigation. The 2011 conviction [JURIST report] of Demjanjuk in Germany may have emboldened German prosecutors to pursue cases against all those who materially helped Nazi Germany function.

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