Government strips ex-Nazi squad member of citizenship again: lawyer

TORONTO — A lawyer for a former Nazi death squad member says the Canadian government has once again stripped the 93-year-old man of his citizenship. Ronald Poulton says it is the fourth time the government has taken the step against Helmut Oberlander, and the Waterloo, Ont., resident plans to challenge the decision.

Poulton says Oberlander has previously been able to have his citizenship restored three other times.

He says Oberlander is challenging the latest decision in Federal Court and says he expects to be successful again. Oberlander, born in Ukraine, was a member of the Nazi death squad Ek 10a, which operated behind the German army’s front line in the Eastern occupied territories in the Second World War. It was part of a force responsible for killing more than two million people, mostly Jews. Oberlander served as an interpreter for the squad from 1941 and 1943 and says he never participated in any killings.

The retired real-estate developer did not disclose his wartime experience when he applied to immigrate to Canada, nor did he disclose the information upon entering Canada in 1954 or when seeking citizenship six years later.