Newsletter
Newsletter Support JNS

Ex-Nazi, 94, loses appeal to keep Canadian citizenship

Helmut Oberlander, a 94-year-old living in Waterloo, Ontario, lost his appeal to keep his Canadian citizenship, being found to have lied about his identity as a former Nazi when applying for the status.

The Supreme Court of Canada Building. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
The Supreme Court of Canada Building. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Helmut Oberlander, a 94-year-old living in Waterloo, Onatrio, lost his appeal to keep his Canadian citizenship, being found to have lied about his identity as a former Nazi when applying for the status.

Canada’s Federal Court stripped Oberlander of his citizenship on Thursday, saying that the move was “reasonable” given that he was a member of a mobile Nazi death squad, the Einsatzkommando 10a.

Oberlander has been fighting to retain his citizenship since 2001.

He maintains that he was an interpreter for the group, never took part in killings, and would have been killed if he tried to escape. Following his stint with the squad, he served as an infantryman in the German army.

When he arrived in Canada in 1954, he failed to disclose his wartime record.

On May 9, vandals spray-painted antisemitic symbols and Bible references on the Waukesha County memorial, which includes a steel beam from the World Trade Center.
“I’m not sure we should make the deal if they don’t sign,” the U.S. president said at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “I think they owe that to us.”
The protest was “a powerful show of solidarity,” Jayne Zirkle of the Lawfare Project told JNS. “To condemn people for attending such an event is to condemn the very principles of freedom our nation was founded on.”
“If publicly-funded institutions cannot host such events without folding to pressure, serious questions arise about that funding,” a Jewish House of Lords member said.
The attacks followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Tuesday that the IDF is deepening its operations in Lebanon.
Police said the incident at Chabad of Northwest Seattle is not currently being investigated as a hate crime.