HIKIND CALLS ON GERMANY TO PUSH FOR MURDER CHARGES AGAINST ALL NAZI WAR CRIMINALS IN U.S.

NEWS FROM
ASSEMBLYMAN DOV HIKIND

November 18, 2013
Contact: Yehudah Meth                                                       For Immediate Release
718-853-9616 (office)
973-945-4903 (cell)

HIKIND CALLS ON GERMANY TO PUSH FOR MURDER CHARGES AGAINST ALL NAZI WAR CRIMINALS IN U.S.

SEES OPPORTUNITY TO BRING JUSTICE TO ALL NAZIS FOLLOWING GERMAN PROSECUTORS PURSUIT OF MINNESOTA ‘COMMANDANT’  

Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) is calling on Germany to pursue murder charges against all Nazi War Criminals living illegally in the United States. The Assemblyman’s request followed an announcement by German prosecutors that they are recommending that former Nazi SS commander Michael Karoc—who is living quietly and illegally in Minnesota—be charged with murder.

“This farce has gone on too long,” said Assemblyman Hikind. “These murderers of innocent men, women have lived illegally in this country enjoying the freedoms that they denied others. Why are they still here? Because of a technicality that we can’t deport them because there’s no country that wants them. But the current German government taking responsibility for these Nazis murderers represents an historical opportunity to bring justice and let their victims rest easier.”

This month, which marked the 75th anniversary of the tragedy of Kristallnacht, Assemblyman Hikind launched a campaign to bring the remaining Nazi war criminals in America to justice. Hikind vowed to pursue Nazi war criminals that had been identified by the U.S. Justice Department data—Nazis who had been ordered deported by the U.S. but had never left the country. The Justice Department’s list included Vladas Zajanckauskas in Sutton, Massachusetts; Theodor Szehinskyj in West Chester, Pennsylvania; John Kalymon in Troy, Michigan; and Jakiw Palij in Queens, New York.

On November 10, Assemblyman Hikind led a group of more than 150 yeshiva students and Holocaust survivors to Queens where they protested Palij’s presence  in the U.S. in front of the Nazi’s home as Palij himself looked out of his window upon the crowd. Assemblyman Hikind promised to return, and to travel to and lead similar rallies in front of the homes of the other identified Nazis war criminals.

“We don’t want these murderers living among us—among the descendants of the men, women and children they tortured,” said the Assemblyman. “Their presence here mocks the memory of the tens of thousands they collectively murdered. It is our obligation to remove this evil from among us. And it is only just that today’s German government accept them into Germany so these mass murderers can finally be prosecuted.”

Assemblyman Hikind leads rally in front of the home of Nazi war criminal Jakiw Palij in Queens, NY on Nov. 10. Photo courtesy of Shmuel Lenchersky/VIN News