Ryan Intends to Leave the Osi

Allan Ryan, Jr., the director of the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations, said here that he intends to leave his position as head of the agency sometime in August. He did not provide a specific date. The OSI is responsible for investigating and prosecuting alleged Nazi war criminals.

Ryan, who has served as director of the OSI since April 1980, said he will leave shortly after submitting a report on his special investigation into the reported connections between American intelligence and Klaus Barbie, the former head of gestapo of Lyon, France during the Nazi occupation in 1942-1944. Barbie was expelled from Bolivia last February and returned to France where he now faces trial on charges of crimes against humanity.

In an interview with The New York Times published Saturday, Ryan said he felt it was time to move on and “give someone else a chance ” as head of the OSI. “I don’t consider myself a Nazi-hunter,” Ryan said. “I consider myself a prosecutor.”

Regarding the efforts of the OSI, Ryan said that about 700 people have been investigated. “We’ve prosecuted 32. Twenty six of those cases are still in court. There are 12 denaturalization cases and 14 deportation cases pending. Five people died. One was deported,” he said. The complexities of the legal process and the time spent in what could amount to as many as seven separate “forums” poses the difficulties which have resulted in just one deportation, Ryan noted.

Asked “How does a Ryan get into this ?” the OSI head responded: “How can a Ryan not get into this ? I’ve never seen this as a Jewish issue. It should concern everybody. It happened to all of us. But we’re not here to avenge the Holocaust. We’re here to apply the law.”

Asked “What have you learned ?” Ryan said: “I understand so little. I do not understand how people could have done this. How could people have done this to each other? How could it have happened ? I have to say, at last, I don’t understand.”