The US deported a 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard

The US deported a 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard

by
Friedrich Karl Berger, a 95-year-old German citizen, was removed from the United States in February 2020, when a U.S. immigration judge ruled that his “voluntary service” as a prison guard for concentration camps “constituted assistance in the persecution sponsored by Nazis, “said the Justice Department.
Berger was eligible for removal from the United States under the Holtzman Amendment, which prohibits anyone who participated in the Nazi persecution from living in the United States. The Immigration Appeals Council upheld the decision in November 2020.

Berger’s trial found that he had worked as an armed guard in a Neuengamme subfield near Meppen, Germany, in 1945. Most of the prisoners there were Russian, Dutch and Polish civilians, but there were also Jews, Danes, Latvians, French, Italians and Nazi “political opponents”, said the Justice Department statement.

The court found that Berger admitted that he protected the prisoners to prevent their escape and that he did not request a transfer from the camp guard service, according to the Justice Department. In addition, Berger still receives a pension from Germany for his job there, including for his “wartime service”.

Berger’s lawyer declined to comment on behalf of his client when contacted by CNN on Saturday.

After his trial in 2020, Berger, then 94, told The Washington Post that much of the case was based on “lies”, saying, “I was 19. I was ordered to go there.” He also said he was at the camp for a short time and denied carrying a gun.

“After 75 years, this is ridiculous. I can’t believe it,” he said. “I can’t understand how it can happen in a country like this. You are forcing me to leave my home.”

Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson said in a statement that Berger’s deportation “demonstrates the commitment of the Justice Department 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. “

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Nazi convictions in Nuremberg, Wilkinson added. Berger’s case “shows that the passage of many decades will not prevent the Department from seeking justice on behalf of the victims of Nazi crimes”.
Former 100-year-old Nazi concentration camp guard accused of Holocaust atrocities

At Berger’s two-day trial last February, the judge ruled that prisoners in the camp were held in “atrocious” conditions during the winter of 1945, the Justice Department said. Prisoners were forced to work outdoors “to the point of exhaustion and death”.

The Nazis abandoned Meppen in late March 1945, while British and Canadian allied forces advanced. Berger was found to have helped protect prisoners as they were evacuated to the main camp at Neuengamme. The ordeal lasted nearly two weeks, the Justice Department said, and about 70 prisoners died in “inhumane conditions”.

The Justice Department said Berger was the 70th Nazi stalker removed from the United States.

U.S. Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tae Johnson, said in a statement that the United States is committed to ensuring that the country “does not serve as a safe haven for human rights violators and war criminals”.

“This case exemplifies the unwavering dedication of 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,” said Johnson.

Jay Croft and Christina MAxouris of CNN contributed to this report.

.Source