The U.S. Justice Department has taken steps to revoke the citizenship of a U.S. citizen living in Lithuania because of his World War II activities.
The move of strip Kazys Gimzauskas, 87, of his U.S. citizenship comes as the United States and Canada have launched proceedings against several accused Nazi was criminals from Lithuania.
The complaint against Gimzauskas alleges that from 1941 to 1944, he was a senior official in two units of the Nazi-sponsored Lithuanian Security Police, known as the Saugumas.
The unit played an important role in the implementation of Nazi racial policy in Lithuania, particularly in the annihilation of the country’s Jews, according to the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia.
Gimzauskas, retired machinist, moved in 1993 or 1994 from his home in St. Petersburg, Fla., to Vilnius, Lithuania, after the Justice Department had launched an investigation against him.
The complaint also charges that he immigrated to the United States in 1956 illegally, because he had not disclosed his wartime activities, which would have made him ineligible for entry.
According to the complaint, at one point Gimzauskas was second-in-command to Vilnius Province Saugumas Chief Aleksandras Lileikis, who faces a similar denaturalization suit filed last year.
The United States has informed Lithuanian officials of Gimzauskas’ residence in Vilnius and of his wartime record, said Eli Rosenbaum, director of the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations.
The United States reportedly has not sought Gimzauskas’ extradition, but wants to prevent him from returning to the United States.
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