Helmut Oberlander had his Canadian citizenship revoked for lying about his involvement in a Nazi killing squad. The 95-year-old has been fighting to stay in Canada since 1995.
Canada’s Supreme Court declined on Thursday to hear the appeal of an ex-Nazi death squad member to reinstate his Canadian citizenship, which was revoked after his wartime activities came to light.
Helmut Oberlander, aged 95, was born to a family of German ethnicity in Ukraine. During World War II, he served first as a translator for the Einsatzkommando 10a (Ek10a), a Nazi mobile killing squad that systematically executed thousands of people in the former Soviet Union after the German invasion.
“He was found to have significantly misrepresented his wartime activities to Canadian immigration and citizenship officials when he applied to enter Canada” in 1952, the Supreme Court’s case summary says.
Lengthy legal battle
Oberlander became a Canadian citizen in 1960, and initially had it revoked in 1995 after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’ investigation into his involvement in war crimes.[…]
‘Politics over law’
Ronald Poulton, one of Oberlander’s lawyers, said he was outraged by the decision, and that any potential deportation order would be fought over “tooth and nail.”
“It’s such an injustice. It’s politics over law,” Poulton said.[…]
Read it at: Deutsche Welle
