U.S. Deports Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard To Germany

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A 95-year-old former Nazi focus camp guard was deported from america and arrived Saturday in his native Germany the place he was being held by police for questioning, authorities stated.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement company stated in an announcement that Friedrich Karl Berger, a German citizen, was despatched again to Germany for serving as a guard of a Neuengamme focus camp subcamp in 1945. The case was investigated by the U.S. Division of Justice.

German authorities confirmed Berger arrived Saturday at Frankfurt and was handed over to Hesse state investigators for questioning, the dpa information company reported.

Berger was ordered expelled by a Memphis, Tennessee court docket in February 2020.

German prosecutors within the metropolis of Celle investigated the opportunity of bringing prices towards him, however stated in December that they’d shelved the probe as a result of they’d been unable to refute his personal account of his service at Neuengamme.

Berger admitted to U.S. authorities that he served as a guard at a camp in northwestern Germany, which was a subcamp of the Neuengamme focus camp, for a couple of weeks close to the top of the struggle however stated he didn’t observe any abuse or killings, Celle prosecutors stated.

Celle prosecutors requested for him to be questioned once more upon his return to Germany, nonetheless, to find out whether or not accent to homicide prices could possibly be introduced, police stated.

In recent times, German prosecutors have efficiently argued that by serving to a dying camp or focus camp perform, guards may be discovered responsible of accent to homicide even when there isn’t any proof of them taking part in a selected killing.

In line with an ICE assertion, Berger served on the subcamp close to Meppen, Germany, the place prisoners – Russian, Polish, Dutch, Jewish and others – had been held in “atrocious” situations and had been labored “to the purpose of exhaustion and dying.”

Berger admitted that he guarded prisoners to stop them from escaping. He additionally accompanied prisoners on the compelled evacuation of the camp that resulted within the deaths of 70 prisoners.

Berger has been residing within the U.S. since 1959.