West Germany has initiated criminal proceedings against former Nazi Boleslavs Maikovskis, according to Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman and Menachem Rosensaft, founder of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors.
Holtzman and Rosensaft met in Washington for about a half-hour Wednesday morning with West German Ambassador Jurgen Rufus. They were assured that the West Germans were serious about investigating Maikovskis’ war record.
It was first revealed Oct. 14 that Maikovskis, a World War II police chief and Nazi collaborator in Latvia, had escaped to Munster, West Germany. Maikovskis had lived since 1951 in Mineola, N.Y.
The Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations had sought his deportation since 1976.
Holtzman and Rosensaft, both attorneys, sounded relieved that the criminal procedure would commence and that justice would be done in the case of the 84-year-old Maikovskis.
“I think we got assurances that the criminal process has begun,” Holtzman said. “Not only was an order of arrest issued by the prosecutor, but it was confirmed by the court.
“In addition, a criminal investigation has begun, which could lead to charges of murder. He is under arrest and will be held under arrest until the investigation is concluded.”
The West German government prosecuted Maikovskis’ wartime superior, Albert Eichelis, four years ago.
Holtzman and Rosensaft said that Klaus Schacht, chief war crimes investigator for the West German state prosecutor’s office in Dortmund, will research the records of the Eichelis trial and would seek information on Maikovskis from the Soviet Union as well as from the OSI.
However, neither of the two were able to ascertain when Maikovskis did, indeed, arrive in West Germany.
REQUESTED POLITICAL ASYLUM
Reports in various media last week claimed he may have sought asylum in West Germany last November. Other accounts indicated he probably left the United States closer to the time his absence was noticed.
Rosensaft quoted the ambassador as saying that Maikovskis, in addition to requesting political asylum, had applied for a stay as a resident alien or for a temporary stay in West Germany within the last 10 days. Both requests were denied.
He explained that the procedure for the request for asylum was a different one, an administrative proceeding that went through regular courts.
That proceeding, separate from the criminal proceeding, runs simultaneously with the detention and investigation.
Rosensaft placed more credence in the West German proceedings than in the American, which had dragged out in American courts for 12 years.
Four years ago, a U.S. federal court found Maikovskis deportable, but he continued to live securely in the United States.
Asked whether West Germany would extradite Maikovskis to the Soviet Union, Rosensaft said, “We didn’t have to ask, because once they decided to assert criminal jurisdiction, they have the process to go forward in Germany.
“If they find that the evidence warrants a trial, there is no reason to extradite him because they will prosecute.”
A Soviet court in Riga, Latvia, sentenced Maikovskis to death in absentia in 1965 for his crimes, which include ordering the destruction of the village of Audrini and the massacre of its population.
Activists supporting his deportation were at loggerheads with the OSI for having allowed Maikovskis to slip the noose.
The OSI, in rebuttal, characterized Maikovskis’ departure from U.S. shores as a “victory” and the normal way of deporting an unwanted resident, through self-deportation.
As a member of Congress in 1978, Holtzman authored the bill that enabled the United States to deport those responsible for Nazi acts and persecution.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
