The U.S. just deported a 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard to Germany

U.S. deports ex-Nazi camp guard — (Image credit: AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

The U.S. government deported a 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard early Tuesday, taking him from his house in New York City and flying him to Germany, the White House said Tuesday morning. The former guard, Jakiw Palij, admitted 25 years ago that he lied on his visa application, wrongly claiming he spent the war as a farmer and factory worker. In fact, the Justice Department says, he worked at the Trawniki concentration camp in 1943, when 6,000 prisoners were slaughtered in the camp; Palij claims he did not participate in war crimes.

A judge ordered Palij deported in 2004, a year after stripping him of U.S. citizenship for "participation in acts against Jewish civilians," but Germany, Poland, and other countries refused to take him, The Associated Press reports. "Through extensive negotiations, President Trump and his team secured Palij's deportation to Germany and advanced the United States' collaborative efforts with a key European ally," the White House said Tuesday. Germany has not said what it plans to do with Palij; previously, German prosecutors said they probably don't have enough evidence to charge him for crimes committed during World War II. In 2009, the U.S. deported former Nazi guard John Demjanjuk; he died in 2012, still appealing his 2011 conviction.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.