Nazi found to be living in US since end of war
Source: Agencies |
June 15, 2013, Saturday
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THE top commander of a Nazi SS-led unit accused of burning villages filled with women and children lied to immigration officials to get into the United States and has been living in Minnesota since shortly after World War II.
Michael Karkoc, 94, told US authorities in 1949 that he had performed no military service during World War II, concealing his work as an officer and founding member of the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion and later as an officer in the SS Galician Division, according to records obtained by The Associated Press after a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Galician Division and a Ukrainian nationalist organization he served in were both on an American blacklist of organizations whose members were forbidden from entering the US at the time.
Though records do not show Karkoc had a direct hand in war crimes, statements from men in his unit and other documentation confirm the Ukrainian company he commanded massacred civilians, and suggest Karkoc was at the scene of these atrocities as the company leader.
Nazi SS files say he and his unit were also involved in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, in which the Nazis brutally suppressed a Polish rebellion.
Polish prosecutors said yesterday they will investigate Karkoc and provide "every possible assistance" to the US Department of Justice, which has used lies in immigration papers to deport dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals.
German authorities have also expressed interest in exploring whether there is enough evidence to prosecute.
Michael Karkoc, 94, told US authorities in 1949 that he had performed no military service during World War II, concealing his work as an officer and founding member of the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion and later as an officer in the SS Galician Division, according to records obtained by The Associated Press after a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Galician Division and a Ukrainian nationalist organization he served in were both on an American blacklist of organizations whose members were forbidden from entering the US at the time.
Though records do not show Karkoc had a direct hand in war crimes, statements from men in his unit and other documentation confirm the Ukrainian company he commanded massacred civilians, and suggest Karkoc was at the scene of these atrocities as the company leader.
Nazi SS files say he and his unit were also involved in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, in which the Nazis brutally suppressed a Polish rebellion.
Polish prosecutors said yesterday they will investigate Karkoc and provide "every possible assistance" to the US Department of Justice, which has used lies in immigration papers to deport dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals.
German authorities have also expressed interest in exploring whether there is enough evidence to prosecute.
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