Behind the Headlines the Moral Issue of Nazis in the U.s

Wearing the uniform of an SS officer, a young rabbi strides into the dining room of the Concord Hotel, among the 2000 delegates who have gathered here for the biennial convention of the United Synagogue of America on Nov. II.

Few people recognize the rabbi, and same mistake him for a neo-Nazi, registering shock or tear. Nevertheless, no one confronts him or tries to throw him out. Most delegates continue to gorge themselves on the Concord’s delicacies, a la “Goodbye Columbus.” Their attitude seems to be; if we pretend he’s net here, he’ll disappear.

Frustrated in his efforts to place the issue of Nazi war criminals in America on the convention ‘s agenda, Rabbi Paul Silton, Education Director of Temple Israel in Albany, N.Y. decided to create grass roots interest among the delegates by donning the startling attire.

With the cooperation of the Empire and New York Metropolitan Regions of the United Synagogue, Silton had arranged a regional meeting on the subject, as a sidelight of the convention. Costumed to dramatize the issue, he was passing out fact sheets and invitations to all of the delegates in the dining room.

SAYS ISSUE DEMANDS RESOLUTION

At this regional meeting, more than 120 delegates heard Charles Allen, Jr., noted expert on Nazi war criminals in the U.S., discuss the “deep moral issue that demands resolution.” For more than 35 years, Nazi genocidists and collaborators have found haven here, he told the delegates, and the U.S. government has known of their Nazi past. Allen originally exposed the scandal in 1963, but his charges were labeled “Communist motivated” by then Attorney Genes Robert Kennedy, he said.

Ten years later, the issue was brought up again, after Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) employes Vincent Schiano and Tony Devito left the INS, charging systematic coverup of cases. Crediting Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D. NY), current chairperson of the House Judiciary subcommittee on immigration, and former Rep. Joshua Eilberg (D. Pa.), former chairman, with leadership in forcing the issue into the open, Allen said that he now has documented the presence of 286 alleged Nazi was criminals and collaborators living here.

“No American President has ever uttered one syllable about this issue, “he said, urging pressure by citizens as “the only language that politicians can understand. ” While the FBI CIA and State Department admitted utilizing some of these alleged Nazi war criminals in a 1978 report by the General Accounting Office of Congress, Allen said that he has documented evidence that 149 alleged Nazi criminals have been used by various U.S. agencies.

A special investigation unit was initiated in INS in 1974, and in May of 1979 the unit became the Office of Special Investigation in the Criminal Division of the Justice Department, headed by Walter Rockler. Twelve cases are in the courts, with a file of some 200 being investigated. To date, not one Nazi war criminal has ever been deported from the United States. (Hermine Brdunsteiner Ryan was extradited to West German Where she is now on trial.)

“In all flat candor,” Allen said, “the government has not been fast enough, certain enough, or accurate enough.” He urged his audience to “encourage a positive, careful, scrupulous approach to the issue.” The only source that can “force the final truth out” is Holtzman’s committee, he explained. The committee has the powers of subpoena and contempt, and should hold hearings to force the intelligence agencies to reveal their complicity, he concluded.

AN ACT OF DESPERATION

Silton explained that he had been asking the leadership of the United Synagogue convention to put the issue on the agenda for many months. “The fact is that I’ve begged, implored, made trips to New York to ask the leadership of United Synagogue of America to make this one of the major items discussed at this convention. I was turned down,” he said.

“You saw me other night, thinking I was some kind of kook in an SS uniform, handing out information sheets,” he continued. “I did that as an act of desperation. When I asked if I might hand them out immediately prior to the showing of the musical version of “The Diary of Anne Frank” (performed for the delegates the evening of Nov. all), I was told that they did not want me to interfere with an ‘evening of entertainment.” The Holocaust has now become entertainment’.”

Largely through Silton’s efforts, a resolution regarding the prosecution of Nazi war criminals was among the 30-odd resolutions presented to the delegates for their approval. Although United Synagogue had joined with other major Jewish organizations to monitor the effectiveness of prosecution of war criminals, publicize the need for eyewitnesses, and recommend that congregations contact representatives in Washington about the issue this is the first time that a resolution was passed by the body, according to Muriel Bermar, director of the Joint Commission on Social Action for United Synagogue.

The resolution calls upon the President, Congress, and the Justice Department to expedite denaturalization and deportation hearings of Nazi war criminals. It further calls on all government agencies to furnish necessary documents to the Office of Special Investigation, regarding alleged Nazi war criminals. “We will not remain silent to the fact that these murderers of men, women and children have been allowed to find refuge in our land,” the resolution concludes.