Karl Linnas, who was accused by the federal government of supervising and participating in the execution of prisoners in the concentration camp in Tartu, Estonia, during World War II and of hiding this information when he entered the United States after the war, had his citizenship revoked last Friday. The revocation decision was issued by Judge Jacob Mishler of the Federal District Court in Westbury, Long Island.
If Linnas, a native of Estonia who is now a resident of Greenlawn, L.I., fails to appeal or is unsuccessful in an appeal, the Department of Justice would attempt to deport him. A Justice Department official said he would not speculate as to which country the U.S. might seek to deport Linnas should expulsion proceedings be initiated.
Linnas, a draftsman, entered the U.S. in 1951 and obtained his citizenship in 1960. He was tried in absentia in 1962 in Estonia and sentenced to death for the crimes he had committed in Tartu. When Linnas entered the U.S. he told immigration officials that he had been a university student in Tartu from 1940 to 1943.
Mishler, in issuing the decision, said that the proof offered by the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigation “established clearly, unequivocally and convincingly” that Linnas had been a member of an Estonian group that aided the German occupying forces and that “on one or more occasions” had supervised the execution of prisoners which included Jews and Communists.
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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.
