Nazi Hunter Being Replaced

Allan Ryon Dr. a lawyer from the solicitous General’s office, will replace Walter Rockier as head of the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations (OSI) which is responsible for it investigation and prosecution of alleged Nazi war criminals in the United States. Rockier told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Ryan will join the OSI tomorrow as deputy director replacing Martin Mendelsohn. He will then take over the OSI when Rockier leaves March 31.

By this period of overlap there will be continuity in the OSI, Rockier said. “In my opinion, Ryan is a very bright and able guy, and I certainly recommended his coming aboard. ” Ryan has handled one Nazi case appealing a decision against the Justice Department’s attempt to denaturalize Feador Fedorenko in which the Fifth-Circuit Court in New Orleans reversed the lower court decision and ordered Fedorenko to surrender his naturalization papers.

Before joining the Solicitor General’s office, Ryan, who is in his 30s, was associated with Washington attorney Edward Bennett Williams. He had been a law clerk for U.S. Associate Supreme Court Justice Byron White.

Asked about the 37-year-old Mendelsohn’s future, Rockier said that the former deputy director had been offered “certain options” by the Justice Department but had not yet made his decision.

MANY UPSET BY MOVE

Meanwhile, many of those involved in urging the government to seek and deport Nazis now residing in the U.S. appeared upset by Mendelsohn’s removal. There were reports that Assistant Attorney General Philip Heymann, who is in charge of the criminal division, replaced Mendelsohn because of a personality clash between the deputy director and Rockier. It was stressed that there was “no issue of any substance” dividing them.

Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman (D.NY), chairperson of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and International Law, who has been leading the efforts to have the government more vigorously pursue alleged war criminals, said she had told Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti that she was strongly opposed to Mendelsohn’s removal. “To remove him would seriously impair the effective functioning of the office and would send the wrong signals to the Federal courts and to foreign governments, which would see this as a sign that the U.S. is not really serious about these cases,” she said.

The Harvard Jewish Law Students Association sent a mailgram to President, Carter, Civiletti and Heymann-expressing its “outrage” at Mendelsohn’s ouster. Allen Wieder, the student association’s president, declared that the group has “monitored” the OSI and “what has been accomplished to date is largely a reflection of Mr. Mendelsohn’s skill, stamina and professionalism.”

Wieder charged that the loss of the litigation and management skills which Martin Mendelsohn has brought to his government service would severely impede OSI’s progress when combined with the resultant destruction of the international goodwill which he has so carefully cultivated. His departure would almost surely cause a significant diminution in the pace of investigations. Time has been the Nazis’ ally for too long, and additional delays can be ill afforded.