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Ordered Deported, Nazi Suspects Remain in U.S.

Their home countries didn’t want them back—and some still live here today

by
Romy Zipken
July 31, 2013
John (Ivan) Kalymon, one of the 10 suspected Nazi war criminals still living in the United States.(Paul Sancya/AP)
John (Ivan) Kalymon, one of the 10 suspected Nazi war criminals still living in the United States.(Paul Sancya/AP)

The United States ordered the deportation of 10 people suspected of Nazi crimes living in the country, but they never actually left because their countries didn’t wanted them back, reports the Associated Press. The news comes from an AP review of Justice Department data.

Though the men were “stripped of citizenship and ordered deported,” they have remained, collecting Social Security and other government subsidies. Apparently, this is not uncommon—historically, suspected Nazis avoided deportation due to of poor health conditions, and some 20 suspects died before their cases were resolved.

The United States can deport people over evidence of involvement in Nazi war crimes, but cannot put such people on trial because the alleged crimes did not take place on American soil. The responsibility to prosecute would lie with the countries where the crimes were committed or ordered — if the suspects ever end up there.

Four of the ten are still alive, and living in the U.S. today, NPR reports:

Vladas Zajanckauskas, 97, of Sutton, Mass.; Theodor Szehinskyj, 89, of West Chester, Penn.; John (Ivan) Kalymon, 92, of Troy, Mich.; and Jakiw Palij, 89, of New York City.

And their backgrounds are egregious, the Atlantic Wire points out.

Two are suspected of being prison guards at Nazi concentration camps, and two others are accused of taking part in massacres of Polish and Ukrainian Jews. All four have denied any involvement in war crimes.

In June we learned of a Nazi commander who had been living in Minnesota since around the time World War II ended. He hid his criminal past in order to gain entry into the U.S., and at 94 years old was living in a “modest” home in a Ukrainian neighborhood.

Romy Zipken is a writer and editor at Jewcy. Her Twitter feed is @RomyZipken.