Stop ‘persecuting’ Oberlander, supporters ask ahead of May hearing
WATERLOO — German-Canadian groups are calling on the government to stop trying to revoke the citizenship of a Waterloo man who served in a Nazi death squad. The case of Helmut Oberlander, 94, is scheduled to return to Federal Court on May 2 as his lawyers fight the government’s fourth attempt to strip his citizenship.
Supporters cite Oberlander’s age, failing health, and exemplary conduct in Canada. They point to three court rulings since 2001 that restored his citizenship after politicians revoked it.
“Every time the courts have decided there is really no reason for doing it because the man is never proven to have done anything criminal,” said Werner Schlueter, president of the local GermanCanadian Remembrance Society.
“I cannot believe that in this country, the rules of law are being overridden like that,” said Gerhard Griebenow, a former
president of the German-Canadian Congress, Ontario branch.
“I think (the government) is just persecuting him,” said Carola Lange, national president of the German-Canadian Congress, based in Winnipeg.
“He is a very good and decent man. And I think many of us in this community are very upset to see this prolonged and drawn out,” said Helene Schramek, a former director of the German-Canadian Congress who has known Oberlander since she was a child.
Schlueter and Schramek believe the government intends to prosecute Oberlander until he dies, so it can say it never gave up on an unwinnable case that has cost taxpayers $2.1 million in legal bills.
“Other than to make his final days in his life as painful as possible ... what is the point at this point in time that will satisfy people?” Schramek said.
“That they pursue him until he’s no longer on this Earth and then they say they’re satisfied? Is that the end goal here? Is that what we’re trying to do?”
Oberlander’s supporters include German-Canadians who know him and people without German roots who don’t know him.
“I think it’s gone on long enough,” said Bill Flynn, a former soldier and retired University of Waterloo employee who does not know Oberlander. He points to previous court rulings that restored Oberlander’s citizenship. “I think they are persecuting him,” he said.
Retired businessperson Bill Bartels has written to prime ministers to oppose the Oberlander prosecution. “Enough is enough,” he said. He has never met Oberlander but understands “he’s been a really good Canadian ... All we’re doing here is spending a whole bunch of money, and for what? He’s 94 years old. Isn’t it time to leave him alone?”
Oberlander, an ethnic German born and raised in Ukraine under Soviet rule, served as a decorated, low-level interpreter in an SS-led death squad that murdered at least 23,000 civilians, mostly Jews, between 1941 and 1943.
The former West Germany convicted seven members of the same squad of war crimes, holding trials between 1972 and 1980. Oberlander has denied lying or killing anyone. No evidence has been presented to a court that he personally participated in war crimes.
However, a court has ruled that more likely than not, he lied about his wartime service to gain entry to Canada. Oberlander became a successful developer after immigrating in 1954.
Canada began prosecuting him in 1995.
It has maintained the prosecution for 23 years through four prime ministers.
Over two decades, the Federal Court of Appeal has consistently restored Oberlander’s citizenship after politicians revoked it. Judges said politicians acted unlawfully by failing to consider the duress he was under, or his level of complicity.
Last June, the Liberal government revoked his citizenship a fourth time, undeterred by previous failures or by revelations of his failing health. Oberlander’s lawyers say his memory is failing and he can no longer answer questions about the Second World War.
“We are determined to deny safe haven in Canada to war criminals and persons believed to have committed or been complicit in war crimes, crimes against humanity, or genocide,” the department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said in a statement.
Jewish groups have consistently urged the government to keep going, citing justice for Holocaust victims.
“Neither Mr. Oberlander’s age nor his health situation in any way justify allowing war criminals to fraudulently avail themselves of our nation’s hospitality,” said Aidan Fishman, national director of B’nai Brith Canada’s League for Human Rights.
German-Canadian groups have consistently urged the government to stop. Critics say it’s unfair that a civil procedure based on the likelihood of lying is being used against a man not charged with a crime.
“Because he hasn’t been accused of anything, they’re just figuring out a different way of trying to take away his Canadian citizenship,” said Lange, of the national German-Canadian Congress.
The department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada said: “We don’t take citizenship revocation lightly, but it is necessary in cases of fraud, serious misrepresentation.”
Oberlander’s scheduled May 2 hearing in Toronto could be delayed by last-minute legal manoeuvrings.
Lawyers have demanded that the judge withdraw from the case, to be replaced. They will argue their motion May 1 and the outcome could put off the nextday hearing.
The demand relates to a decision the judge made a decade ago in an Oberlander ruling.