A 95-year-old former World War II concentration camp guard was deported to Germany on Saturday, Immigration and Customs announced.
Friedrich Karl Berger was deported after US authorities determined that he served in the Neuengamme concentration camp system near Hamburg in 1945.
Berger, a German citizen, lived in Tennessee.
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“We are committed to ensuring that the United States does not serve as a safe haven for human rights violators and war criminals,” said ICE director Tae Johnson in a statement. “We will never stop chasing those who chase others.”
This case exemplifies the efforts of the ICE and the Department of Justice “to seek justice and relentlessly hunt down those who participated in one of the greatest atrocities in history, no matter how long it takes,” he said.
An appeal board in November upheld the decision that Berger could be sent back to his country under the 1978 Holtzman Amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act. This amendment allows the deportation of anyone who participates in any Nazi persecution or genocide.
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The court’s initial decision concluded that Berger served in a camp where the largest groups of prisoners were Russian, Dutch and Polish civilians. The judge found that prisoners in the camp were held during the winter of 1945 in “atrocious” conditions and were forced to work outdoors “until exhaustion and death”.
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The statement said Berger admitted that he kept prisoners to prevent them escaping during the day and on trips to and from work. He also helped to guard prisoners during their evacuation to the main camp as the Allies advanced.
Berger still receives a pension from Germany based on his employment there, “including his service during the war”.
The case was initiated by the Justice Immigration Litigation Office. Since 1979, the DOJ has won lawsuits against 109 Nazi persecutors.
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“Berger’s removal demonstrates the commitment of the Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners to ensuring that the United States is not a safe haven for those who participated in Nazi crimes against humanity and other human rights abuses,” he said. interim attorney general Monty Wilkinson in a statement.