Ohio Man, Accused of Having Been a Guard in a Nazi Labor Camp, is Facing Deportation

The two-week deportation hearing against a 62-year-old construction worker accused of persecuting inmates at a Nazi labor camp during the Holocaust recently concluded here, leaving the fate of Leonid Petkiewytsch in the hands of Judge O. John Brahos. He is not expected to render a decision until early September.

Petkiewytsch, a resident of the suburban community of Finneytown, is accused by the government of having concealed his past war-time activities when he applied for entry into the country in 1955, and having participated as a guard at the Kiel-Hassee camp in the “persecution of persons because of their race, religion, national origin and political opinion under the direction of the Nazi government of Germany.”

Testifying in his own defense, Petkiewytsch admitted having served as a guard at the labor camp in Germany, but claimed, according to a report in The American Israelite here, that he never persecuted prisoners. In addition, he denied that he concealed information from American authorities when he applied for a visa to enter the U.S.

The Kiel-Hassee labor camp, one of the lesser-known camps run by the Nazi war machine, had an average population of some 1,800 persons. There are estimates that 550 died there; 150 by execution. The Jewish population there was relatively small, with most arriving in the last months of the war. About 160 Jewish prisoners were liberated from the camp in April 1945.

IMMIGRATION OFFICIAL ALERTED

Petkiewytsch is not a U.S. citizen, and it was his attempt in 1982 to become a naturalized citizen that alerted an immigration official to his past activities. He apparently indicated on the 1982 application that he had been a labor camp guard. The official alerted the Justice Department’s Office Of Special Investigations in Washington.

Petkiewytsch, whose twin brother George Petke of Western Hills also provided testimony, told the immigration hearing that he and his parents fled Poland, fearing the Russian forces. His father had been serving as a mayor of a town under Nazi occupation, the Israelite said in its extensive coverage of the hearing.

He and his brother were later assigned jobs by the Germans at the Kiel-Hassee camp, they said. They told the court that they were given little choice in the matter: either go as guards or as prisoners.

Issued carbines and uniforms, the brothers testified that they escorted prisoners back and forth from Kiel for daily work details, patrolled the perimeter of the camp, and did other chores. They asserted they never beat prisoners or participated in any executions.

While the brothers said the camp was like an ordinary jail, six Jewish survivors of Kiel-Hassee provided testimony about the brutal conditions of the labor camp.

DENY CONCEALING WAR-TIME ACTIVITIES

Both brothers denied concealing the fact that they failed to alert U.S. authorities in 1955 that they had been arrested and imprisoned by the British for three years for possible war crimes. Judge Brahos informed Petke before his testimony that information he provided could be used against him by the government at a later date.

The U.S. official whom the brothers say they presented the British imprisonment documents to is Marvin Hickman, who was vice consul in Germany in 1955. He testified at the hearing that, according to documentation on the visa application, Petkiewytsch did not present the British documentation. Hickman said he would not have approved the visa application had he known of Petkiewytsch’s past activities.

Brahos estimated that it will take four to five months before he reaches a decision. This time will include post-trial presentations by both sides. Afterwards, appeals can be expected, which could go to the Supreme Court.

OPTIONS IN THE CASE

If Petkiewytsch is found guilty of persecuting persons because of their race, religion and political opinion under the direction of the Nazis, there can be no “discretionary relief” on the part of the judge, according to U.S. law.

However, if the judge were to find Petkiewytsch not guilty on that account and guilty of having concealed information about his past wartime activities when he applied for entry into the U.S., he can apply “discretionary relief” and suspend deportation, the Israelite explained.

American Israelite editor Phyllis Singer, who attended and reported on the hearing, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that public reaction from both the Jewish and general communities was mixed. “Most of all, there was disinterest,” she said.