Documents raise doubts over U.S. man's Nazi past
A U.S. Army intelligence card on Johann "Hans" Breyer, obtained by the Associated Press from the National Archives, indicates he served in Auschwitz as of Dec. 29, 1944 - four months after he said he deserted. The 87-year-old Philadelphia man is the target of a new German investigation on allegations of accessory to murder at Auschwitz. / AP Photo/National Archives
BERLIN The case of an 87-year-old Philadelphia man accused by Germany of serving as an SS guard at Auschwitz has largely centered on whether he was stationed at the part of the death camp used as a killing machine for Jews.
Johann "Hans" Breyer — while admitting he was an Auschwitz guard — insists he was never there.
World War II-era documents obtained by The Associated Press indicate otherwise.
The files provided by the U.S. Department of Justice in response to an AP request are now in the hands of German authorities, and could provide the legal basis for charging him as an accessory to the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Nazi death camp.
The retired toolmaker told the AP in September, when German authorities confirmed he was under investigation, that he was always at Auschwitz I, a smaller camp used largely for slave labor, and never entered Auschwitz II, also known as Auschwitz-Birkenau, where about 90 percent of the 1.1 to 1.5 million Jews and others killed in the camp were murdered.
Snow-covered tracks photographed from the entrance of Auschwitz-Birkenau in January 1941.
/ AP/DAPDThe U.S. Justice Department documents tell a different story. One SS administrative document specifically notes that Breyer was an SS guard at Auschwitz II. Another indicates he served with a unit of the SS Totenkopf, or "death's head," that was assigned to guard Birkenau.
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Kurt Schrimm, the head of the special German prosecutors' office responsible for investigating Nazi-era crimes, which has recommended charges be brought against Breyer in Germany, would not comment on specific pieces of evidence. But he said his office felt there was a strong enough evidence to prove that Breyer served in Birkenau.
"American authorities have been very cooperative in this case and have turned over a lot of evidence," he said.
Breyer did not respond to requests for comment; his attorney, Dennis Boyle, said that he was aware of the documents but would not comment on their possible significance. "We are continuing our investigation and have no comment at this time," Boyle said.
The U.S. Department of Justice used the documents as part of its unsuccessful decade-long legal efforts to have Breyer stripped of his American citizenship and deported. The U.S. case centered upon issues such as whether Breyer had lied on his immigration papers and whether he had obtained U.S. citizenship through his American-born mother. That legal saga ended in 2003, with a ruling that allowed him to stay in the United States, mainly on the grounds that he had joined the SS as a minor and could therefore not be held legally responsible for participation in it.
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To Bush, both Sr. and Jr., a heads up.
We will never stop calling for you to be brought to justice for your planning and ordering of genocide, even if many of the dead American soldiers' families don't care about your treason against their lost ones.
No statute of limitations on war crimes.
To Mr. Obama, a heads up.
You refused your duty and obligation under US and international law to help bring Bush Jr. to justice for his crimes, and therefore should be charged with obstruction of justice, also any further war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by US troops under your watch could possibly be laid in a case against you, even though you did not originally order the soldiers to go into those places.
No statute of limitations on war crimes.
Do your sworn duty, Mr. President, help us bring Bush to justice, you will do much to establish American credibility, and recognize the rule of law as well as mitigate the severity of any charges that might be brought against yourself in the future.