Federal Legislation to Speed Up Process in Deporting Nazi War Criminals in the U.S. is Urged

Brooklyn District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman has called for new federal legislation to speed up the process of deporting Nazi war criminals living in the U.S. because the present procedures are “intolerably slow.”

Holtzman, when a member of Congress, authored an amendment which authorizes deportation of war criminals. She believes roughly 10,000 former Nazis are still at large in the U.S. To date II alleged war criminals have been deported or extradited or have left the country voluntarily rather than face deportation hearings.

LINNAS CASE IS CITED

Holtzman, addressing a meeting of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Breath of long Island, cited the case of a Long Island resident, Karl Linnas, who faces deportation to the Soviet Union where he was convicted in absentia of war crimes. Linnas, who has been living in the U.S. for over 30 years, was a guard and later commandant of the concentration camp in Tartu, Estonia, during World War II, where he participated directly in the murders of Jews and other inmates. Later he served in the SS. Linnas, 66, was stripped of his American citizenship in 1981 after it was found that he lied about his Nazi past to gain admittance to this country. He is fighting deportation on grounds that the Holtzman Amendment is. unconstitutional. He was ordered deported in 1985. Linnas’ appeal is being heard by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York. On Monday, the Court reserved decision in the case, further delaying deportation.

‘PROCESS IS EXCRUCIATINGLY SLOW’

Holtzman said the current method of deporting Nazi war criminals allows years of delay before the criminal can be forced to leave the country. “There are now two separate and time-consuming processes which must take place before a Nazi war criminal can be deported,” she explained. “First comes the denaturalization proceeding, which can result in stripping of U.S. citizenship. Then an entirely new set of deportation proceedings is required.

“The process is excruciatingly slow. It is intolerably slow. Congress must pass the laws that will speed up the process and ensure that Hitler’s henchmen who came here after World War II are removed from our country.”

RENEWS CALL FOR A SPECIAL COMMISSION

Holtzman also renewed her call for creation of a special commission to investigate the full scope of U.S. government assistance to, and protection of Nazi war criminals after World War II.

“After fighting Hitler, this country provided aid, employment and protection to many of his henchmen. The role of the U.S. government in this sordid chapter of our history must be thoroughly investigated…. And the U.S. officials responsible for these actions must be exposed,” the Brooklyn DA said.

With respect to Linnas, Holtzman said in a statement released by her office Monday that his argument that the Holtzman Amendment is unconstitutional “is ludicrous and it has been rejected by other courts.”

“There must be no haven in this country for brutal Nazi murderers like him and there is no justification for his continued presence here,” Holtzman declared. “The presence of Karl Linnas in this country desecrates the memories not only of those who perished in Hitler’s death camps but of those 176,000 Americans who died fighting Hitler in World War II.”

A friend-of-the-court brief filed last week by four Jewish organizations charged that federal courts and U.S. immigration agencies needlessly allow deportation proceedings against Nazi war criminals to stretch out for years. The brief, prepared by the American Jewish Congress and signed by the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, the New York Jewish Community Relations Council, and the National Jewish Commission on Law and Public Affairs, was filed in connection with Linnas’ appeal hearing.