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Germany Seeks Former Nazi Living in U.S.

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While Johann “Hans” Breyer, a retired toolmaker, admits that he served in the notorious Waffen SS at Auschwitz during World War II, he insists he was only stationed outside the infamous death camp (pictured above) and was not involved in any manner with the wanton murder of an estimated 1.5 million Jews and other prisoners inside.Germany has begun a war crimes case against an 87-year-old man currently residing in Philadelphia who it says served as an SS guard at the infamous Auschwitz death camp, as reported by the Associated Press. This new effort comes after the American Justice Department tried for years – with no success – to have the man’s U.S. citizenship removed and the alleged Nazi deported.

While Johann “Hans” Breyer, a retired toolmaker, does admit that he worked as a guard at Auschwitz during World War II, he insists he was only stationed outside the camp and was not involved in any manner with the wanton murder of an estimated 1.5 million Jews and other prisoners inside.

The German office that is designated to investigate Nazi war crimes has recommended that prosecutors charge Breyer with accessory to murder, and then extradite him to Germany so he could stand trial on suspicion of participation in the killing of at least 344,000 Jews at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in occupied Poland.

Documents have come to light that raise serious questions about Breyer’s testimony regarding just when he concluded his service at Auschwitz.

Notably, prosecutors are approaching the new case with the same legal theory that was used to go after since-deceased Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk, who died while in the midst of an appeal of his conviction in Germany on charges he was employed as a guard at the Sobibor extermination camp, which was likewise in occupied Poland.

Although the ultimate conviction of Demjanjuk did not have enduring legal standing because the accused Nazi died during the appeals process, German prosecutors believe the same legal argument could be effective in the Breyer case. In their reasoning, despite lack of tangible proof that the accused took part in any specific offense, an individual who served as a death camp guard during the Holocaust can be charged with accessory to murder because the entire purpose of the camp was to murder its prisoners.

Professionals in the field estimate that a minimum of eighty former death camp guards or others functioning in a similar manner are probably still alive at present, nearly 70 years after the end of World War II. Authorities in the Bavarian town of Weiden, who have legal jurisdiction over the Breyer case, are attempting to determine if there is enough solid evidence to pursue a successful prosecution.

In an hour-plus interview conducted in his home in northeastern Philadelphia, Breyer openly stated that he was a member of the Waffen SS at Auschwitz, but he insisted that he did not serve as a guard at the section of the camp that oversaw the killing of Jews. “I didn’t kill anybody, I didn’t rape anybody — and I don’t even have a traffic ticket here,” the alleged Nazi stated. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” While admitting that he knew of the murderous activity taking place inside Auschwitz, Breyer said he never witnessed it firsthand. “We could only see the outside, the gates,” he said.

Breyer testified in an American court that he was employed as a perimeter guard at Auschwitz I, the section of the camp primarily used for slave labor for the majority of the war. Auschwitz I was also the area where the notorious SS doctor Josef Mengele conducted his sadistic experiments on inmates.

Breyer emphatically testified that he was never dispatched to Auschwitz II, more generally known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, the death camp section where the vast majority of the victims were exterminated. He also claimed to have deserted in August of 1944 and never came back to Auschwitz, though he did later rejoin his army unit that was fighting outside Berlin in the waning weeks of the war.

However, a U.S. Army intelligence file on the accused Nazi raises doubts about the accuracy of that last claim. In 1951, American military authorities stationed in post-war Germany performed a background check on Breyer when he originally submitted his application for a visa to enter the United States. The file from that investigation notes Breyer as a then-member of an SS Totenkopf, or “Death’s Head,” battalion in Auschwitz even as late as Dec. 29, 1944 — which is a full four months later than the time of his supposed desertion.

This document has particular significance because judges in the case in 2003 disclosed that Breyer’s testimony about deserting contributed to their belief that his service with the Waffen SS starting at age 18 might not have been voluntary. In that scenario, Breyer’s responsibility for wartime atrocities would be potentially decreased.

Kurt Schrimm, who directs the specials prosecutors’ office in Ludwigsburg – which pursued the investigation of Breyer before it was given over to the Weiden prosecutors – noted his sense that there was sufficient evidence to lodge charges against the camp guard. “All of these guards were stationed at times on the ramps (where train transports of prisoners were unloaded), at times at the gas chambers and at times in the towers,” Schrimm asserted.

Thomas Walther, who worked as a former prosecutor in Schrimm’s office, said he had knowledge of the file on Breyer since his employment there. Walther is already serving as the attorney for a woman whose two siblings were killed in Auschwitz during the period that Breyer is said to have been there. The woman will join any prosecution as a co-plaintiff, which is permitted under German law. Walther noted that he has set up an email address, [email protected], for the families of other Auschwitz victims.

“Time is swiftly running out to bring Nazi criminals to justice,” Walther declared. “I hope that prosecutors in Weiden will act soon on this case.”

Breyer was born in 1925 in what was at the time Czechoslovakia. His father was an ethnic German and his mother was an American citizen, born in Philadelphia. Slovakia became a separate state in 1939 under the direction of Nazi Germany. In 1942, the Waffen SS inaugurated an effort to recruit ethnic Germans from the region, and Breyer joined the unit at age 17. The fact that he was a legal minor at that point played a crucial role in the 2003 decision to grant him continued residency in the United States.

Through a previously ratified treaty, the United States has the legal right to extradite its citizens to Germany. But Breyer avowed that he would combat any judicial or government efforts to banish him from America, where his wife and family live. “I’m an American citizen, just as if I had been born here,” he said during the interview at his Philadelphia home. “They can’t deport me.”

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