Simply Complicated

By Alicia Dorr in News on Mar 22, 2007 6:35PM

We all know that perpetrators of the Nazi regime are still alive. Some of them even have positions of power and/or influence. For example, a few years ago, the U.S. Justice Department tracked down an accused Nazi who has been living and working in Chicago since the end of the war — and now it is attempting to assure that he won't live out his days here.

After several years of tracking former Ukrainian national Osyp Firischak, the department requested of a federal immigration judge Friday that he be thrown out of the country. The 87-year-old has been a U.S. citizen since 1954 and has never been arrested. Federal agents say as a part of the Nazi-controlled Ukrainian Auxilliary Unit he participated in holding, harming and eventually killing 100,000 Jews or more.

Two years ago he was stripped of his citizenship, although his lawyer still vehemently denies the claims made against him. Unfortunately for him, it would seem, the Nazis were notorious for their record-keeping, and authorities have put forth evidence in the form of documents, many that allegedly have his signature on them.

What always makes us sick in these situations is the uncertainty. On one hand, innocent until proven guilty becomes harder and harder to grapple with as the years since the Holocaust pass. If he was indeed a part of these horrible atrocities, we really don't care if he's 100 years old before he would be convicted. Then again, what if he wasn't? It must be difficult to deny hard evidence of his involvement, even if there is a shadow of a doubt. We guess the question becomes — where do you draw the line?

Image via rjgeib.com.