Shock Lingers After Nazi Leader Found in U.S

Shock lingers after Nazi leader “For me, this is a shock. To come to this country and take advantage of its freedoms all found in U.S. of these years, it blows my mind,” he said. Michael Karkoc told American Karkoc told American authorities in 1949 that authorities in 1949 he had performed he had performed no military service during no military service during WWII, World War II, concealing his work as an hiding his past as an SS officer. officer and founding member of the legion and later as an officer in the SS Galician By The Associated Press | Jun. 16, 2013 | Division, according to records obtained by the AP through a Freedom of Information Act request. The Galician Division and a Ukrainian nationalist organization he served in were both on a secret American government blacklist of organizations whose members were forbidden from entering the United States at the time. Though records do not show that Karkoc had a direct hand in war crimes, statements from men in his unit and other documentation The revelation that a top former commander confirm the Ukrainian company he of a Nazi SS-led military unit has lived quietly commanded massacred civilians, and suggest in Minneapolis for the past six decades came that Karkoc was at the scene of these atrocities as a shock to those who knew 94-year-old as the company leader. Nazi SS files say he Michael Karkoc. and his unit were also involved in the 1944 World War II survivors in both the United Warsaw Uprising, in which the Nazis brutally States and Europe harshly condemned the suppressed a Polish rebellion against German news, and prosecutors in Poland have said occupation. they’ll investigate. Late Friday, Karkoc’s son, Andriy Karkos, An Associated Press investigation found that read a statement accusing AP of defaming Karkoc served as a top commander in the Karkoc, and pointed to the portion of the story Ukrainian Self-Defense Legion during World about records not showing Karkoc had a direct War II. The unit is accused of wartime hand in war crimes. atrocities, including the burning of villages “That’s the god’s honest truth,” said Karkos, filled with women and children. who uses a different spelling for his last name. “I know him personally. We talk, laugh. He “My father was never a Nazi.” takes care of his yard and walks with his He said the family wouldn’t comment further wife,” his next-door neighbor Gordon until it has obtained its own documents and Gnasdoskey said Friday. Gnasdoskey, the reviewed witnesses and sources. grandson of a Ukrainian immigrant himself, said he was disturbed by the revelations about Sam Rafowitz, an 88-year-old Jewish resident his longtime neighbor. of the Minneapolis suburb of Minnetonka, grew up in Warsaw, Poland, and spent four years working in concentration camps. He took a hard line after hearing the news about crimes were against Poles on Polish territory. Karkoc. But Karkoc would be unlikely to be tried in his native Ukraine, where such men are today “I think they should put him on trial,” said largely seen as national heroes who fought for Rafowitz, who was born near the border of the country against the Soviet Union. Germany and Poland. Karkoc now lives in a modest house in an area He may get his wish: Polish prosecutors of Minneapolis that has a significant announced Friday they will investigate Ukrainian population. Even at his advanced Karkoc and provide “every possible age, he came to the door without help of a assistance” to the U.S. Department of Justice, cane or a walker. He would not comment on which has used lies in immigration papers to his wartime service for Nazi Germany. deport dozens of suspected Nazi war criminals. Karkoc lied to American “I don’t think I can explain,” he said. immigration officials to get into the U.S., Karkoc and his family are longtime members telling authorities in 1949 that he had of the St. Michael’s and St. George’s performed no military service during the war. Ukrainian Orthodox Church, among several He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1959. Catholic and Orthodox churches in the The AP evidence of Karkoc’s wartime neighborhood. activities has also prompted German “All the time I am here, I know him as a good authorities to express interest in exploring man, a good citizen,” said the Rev. Evhen whether there is enough to prosecute. In Kumka, the church’s pastor. “He’s well Germany, Nazis with “command known in the congregation.” responsibility” can be charged with war crimes even if their direct involvement in atrocities cannot be proven. Efraim Zuroff, the lead Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, said that based on his decades of experience pursuing Nazi war criminals, he expects that the evidence showing Karkoc lied to American officials and that his unit carried out atrocities is strong enough for deportation and war-crimes prosecution in Germany or Poland. In America this is a relatively easy case: If he was the commander of a unit that carried out atrocities, that’s a no-brainer,” Zuroff said. “Even in Germany ... if the guy was the commander of the unit, then even if they can’t show he personally pulled the trigger, he bears responsibility.” Prosecution in Poland may also be a possibility because most of the unit’s alleged