Handling of Nazi war crimes files a national shame

People are talking about the American Nazi war criminal, Jakiw Palij, who was stripped of his citizenship and recently deported to Germany for his alleged crimes as a former labour camp guard during the Second World War.

Canadian media is widely reporting on this “last” Nazi war criminal in America. But how has Canada dealt with “our” Nazi war criminals who snuck into this country under false pretense to escape justice for their horrific crimes? Many came here and lived mundane and ordinary lives — raising families and going to work daily. Their past remained hidden for decades.

In fact, no one really knows how many Nazi war criminals entered this country. We do know that a special commission enacted by then Prime Minister Brian Mul- roney in 1985 to investigate claims about Nazi war criminals residing in this country found around 774 possible war criminals in this country. An addendum listed 38 names and provided an additional list of 71 German scientists and technicians. The Deschenes Commission headed by Judge Jules Deschenes subsequently whittled down the list to 20 strong possibilities and referred them to government with detailed recommendations on how to proceed.

Of the 20 possibilities, Canada obtained around 10 denaturalizations — a strategy taken from the Americans to deport war criminals who falsified their involvement in war crimes to get into the country. According to reports, Canada failed to deport any. Two left on their own and seven of the remaining eight had natural deaths while remaining in this country.

Of these, it appears that as recently as this past May, one defendant remains with an open case — Helmut Oberlander. He is accused of serving in a Nazi death squad that murdered Jewish and non-Jewish civilians. Oberlander says he was a low-level interpreter, but the government has tried to revoke his citizenship four times. He has denied lying to unlawfully enter Canada or killing anyone, and reportedly no evidence has been presented to a court that he personally participated in war crimes.

However, given recent new application of prosecution policy in Germany to try Nazi war criminals as “accessory to murder,” alleged war criminals who claim they were just following orders or were not part of the killing would likely face conviction if deported to Germany.

It is all too little too late. But there should never be age limitation for murderers and their accomplices.

Canada has repeatedly received a failing grade by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for its lack of political will and effort relating to Nazi war criminals. It seems, in fact, that Canada had all but given up years ago. The last published report from Canada’s Program on Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes ended in 2015. The report further states that “the majority of cases related to the Second World War have been concluded.”

Our handling of the Nazi war crimes files is a national shame. But it’s not ours alone. Many other countries, including America, will one day reconcile themselves to how we allowed so many to get away with heinous crimes.