Ex-Nazi Guard Deported From Wisconsin

Josias Kumpf, 83, Took Part In Mass Murder Of 8,000 Jews, Government Officials Say

(CBS/AP)  A Wisconsin man who took part in the massacre of 8,000 Jews during World War II was deported to Austria, government officials said Thursday.

Former Nazi concentration camp guard Josias Kumpf, 83, admittedly participated in a mass shooting at a Polish labor camp that left 8,000 Jewish prisoners - including 400 children - dead in 1943, according to Immigration and Justice Department officials.

During World War II, Kumpf served as an armed guard at Trawniki labor camp in Poland. He also served at a concentration camp in Germany as well as a slave labor site in France where prisoners built launching platforms for German missile attacks on England, the government said.

Kumpf's court-ordered removal from the U.S. "is another milestone in the government’s long-running effort to ensure that individuals who participated in crimes against humanity do not find sanctuary in this country," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Rita M. Glavin.

The Trawniki shootings were part of "Aktion Erntfefest," or Operation Harvest Festival, which ended in the deaths of around 42,000 Jews in Poland, officials said.

The Serbian-born Kumpf said he was tasked with watching for victims who were still "halfway alive" or "convulsing" and prevent their escape, according to officials. If they tried to escape, he was to shoot them.

Kumpf arrived in the U.S. in 1956 and became a citizen eight years later. A U.S. District Court revoked his citizenship in 2005 after the government brought a suit against him. His deportation was ordered by a judge and carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Peter Rogers, Kumpf's attorney, didn't immediately return a message Thursday.

In a 2003 interview, Kumpf said he was taken from his home in Yugoslavia as a 17-year-old and forced to serve as a guard, but he didn't participate in any atrocities.

At a 2006 hearing Rogers described Kumpf as "a gentleman who was involuntarily inscripted into the army, assigned to the SS and then stationed at places where admittedly terrible things happened. My client never took part in them."

But at a subsequent deportation hearing, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich said Kumpf participated in an operation that resulted in the murder of thousands of innocent victims.

"His culpability in this atrocity does not diminish with the passage of time," Friedrich said at the time.

Since 1979, the U.S. Justice Department has won cases against 107 people who participated in Nazi crimes.

[Chris_Butler]

I don't know whether anybody is interested but this guy has already been let out of goal because the statutes of limitations ran out in 1965.

It was a waste of time extraditing him.

[mdalerwill]

Lucky you ducked...
Posted by davicar2 at 12:18 PM : Mar 20, 2009

LOL. I think I must have made a new friend. My posts, even the serious 100%-on-topic ones, are disappearing off all the threads.

[quapawsix]

Just a note; Well that's funny they let the rocket scientists who where party members, and actively seeking weapons of mass destruction into our country and, did not prosecute them even when we have laws on the books against their interring into the U.S., and these same people did not prosecute the Japanese responsible for Unit 51 which was responsible for the same types of atrocities as well as carrying out genocide on the Chinese people, and prisoner's of war that went on in death camps in European Theater of War. Sure can for give these peoplea safe haven all in the name of security.

[bradkt1]

We NEVER forgive former Nazis...NEVER!!!

[cbsantispin]

At what point do we forgive former Nazi's and move on? The current Pope was a Nazi and many appear to have forgiven him! Instead of worrying about the old Nazi's who are out of business, we need to be worrying about and deporting the new "active" Neo-Nazi Skinheads! The new Neo-Nazi's are where the attention needs to be focused. Find them as Post their information on the web like its done for s e x offenders, we should know if they operate and live near us.

[Non-Sequitur]

For God's sake, the man was 17 years old in 1943. *** is wrong with you people? Bush and Cheney go free while this poor sap gets hosed for being a low man on the totem pole... what's wrong with this picture? What was he, a private at best? Get real, you fear infested blood suckers... you hate everything that you don't understand. The truth is in plain sight if only you took the effort (we do have Google, after all), but your ignorance is so profound that you prefer to be spoon-fed your propaganda from fear mongering gas bags masquerading as journalists. It's kinda hard to take you guys seriously if you see the problem.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by griller2009 at 5:11 PM : Mar 19, 2009




My uncle was among the first ones through the gate at Buchanwald and took pictures because he couldn't believe his eyes. I saw the pictures when he got back. I still weep and there is not a jewish bone in my body.

[Renegade.Rivers]

To say the least this about as hypocritical as our country could be, considering all of the Nazis that were allowed into the country, who were war criminals, after the war when Operation Paperclip was put in place. Of course, I am sure that many of you have never heard of that operation, which brought Nazi scientist to American, sponsored by our OSS, the forerunner to the CIA. Those Nazis were brought here using falsified records, and passports issued by the Vatican. This took place during the Truman administration.

Among the Nazis who was brought over here was Von Braun, whose rockets reigned terror on London for months. Of course, it was he who later designed the rockets which were used to put America in space. Arthur Rudolph, who during the war was operations director of the Mittelwerk factory at the Dora-Nordhausen concentration camps, where 20,000 workers died from beatings, hangings, and starvation. Kurt Blome was another Nazi who was brought over here, he was a high-ranking Nazi scientist, Blome told U.S. military interrogators in 1945 that he had been ordered 1943 to experiment with plague vaccines on concentration camp prisoners. He was tried at Nuremberg in 1947 on charges of practicing euthanasia (extermination of sick prisoners), and conducting experiments on humans. Although acquitted, his earlier admissions were well known, and it was generally accepted that he had indeed participated in the gruesome experiments.
Two months after his Nuremberg acquittal, Blome was interviewed at Camp David, Maryland, about biological warfare. In 1951, he was hired by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps to work on chemical warfare. His file neglected to mention Nuremberg. In all over 600 high ranking Nazis with a history of war crimes were brought to American after there records had been falsified.

On the other hand, this old man, who had been no one of importance, and may have never done anything wrong was expelled. Why? The only logical conclusion is that he was of no use to the powers that be,

[griller2009]

Thanks, Toomangler2009. By the way, my brother runs PTSD groups for Vietnam veterans at a VA center, so I am aware and am also very sympathetic to soldier's traumas during war time.

My main point was to point out the antisemitism of previous posts and that genocide is an extraordinary crime against humanity so we should not take it lightly or make excuses for this man no matter his age when he murdered or his age now that he is being deported.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by griller2009 at 4:45 PM : Mar 19, 2009




If I misunderstood, 'apologys'
I was more interested in certain peoples feeling and trying to mitigate the commentary to reflect that point.

[GentlemanBurgoyne]

News Flash : WAR IN EUROPE OVER , ALLIES WIN !!!
Get over it ! Oh and yes I am a disabled veteran with PTSD you crybabies !

[griller2009]

Toolmangler2009--Sounds like we're talking past each other-- I'm commenting
on previous posts which are preceded by ">" to indicate quotes. My comments
are written in between these posts which obviously I do not agree with.

[excoachken]

To Griller: I would suggest that you take one afternoon and talk to a WW II vets who saw 1st hand the terror of the Concentration Camps, and ask them what they think about the man's deportation. I have interviewed dozens and have heard many tell of how they were the target of boys much younger than 17, while trying to track down Hitler. I think you might like to visit one of the monthly Battle of The Bulge group meetings in your area and explain to them why we should just forget what happened 65 years ago. Visit a WW II PTSD group meeting at your nearby VA and see just how good their memories are of events that took place so long ago. Memories of their buddies, who died trying to close down those awful camps. Maybe you could get the opportunity to tell them how they wasted their time, doing something that you would rather forget. On second thought, you better not go to any of those places because I might be their and you can find out how this nearly 65 year old would give you a permanent reminder of why we owe these brave Americans the respect of tracking down the Nazi cowards in 2009!

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by griller2009 at 3:39 PM : Mar 19, 2009





Now that you have posted 'your' rant, please understand that some here 'lived through this mans involvement with the torturers and murderers they "Remember" first hand. They have 'earned the right' to speak their piece.. until you have walked in their shoes, it would be best to remain silent.

[griller2009]

Posts regarding his crime...

>Who cares what happened a gazillion years ago. It was war, blame on Hitler.
>Leave the guy alone and move on.

>It's shocking that a naked witch hunt of this sort can happen in America >today.
>It's a shakedown of American jurisprudence carried out by something >we could only
>call a Jewish mafia and I think we should all start >denouncing it. Keeping quiet
>while witnessing these atrocities is the wrong >thing to do.

>Not to minimize any of it, but who else in the world and from which nations >do
>others seeks out recognition, revenge and or redemption? Where else in >the world
>is there a hue and cry for other lives lost to Nazi terror, and >how are 6 million
>non Jews forgotten and not mentioned?

>As much as some demand a pound of flesh in this matter, I do have to wonder >what
>the circumstances of some of these guard's actions were - did they act >as they
>did in fear for their own life? Did they believe that they were >"just following
>orders", an excuse which is still used by people in war to >explain their
>heartless actions?

Of course some if this is anti-Semitic innuendo such as "pound of flesh" from
Shakespeare's negative Jewish stereotype in "Merchant of Venice" and
conspiracy theories about all-powerful Jewish groups from the "Protocols of Zion."

What I really don't understand from people so willing to excuse this man's
extraordinary crimes is why it is so hard to understand why some people get so
worked about this whole genocide thing.

Yes, there were many more people killed by German soldiers during WWII, but
the Holocaust represents the murder of 14 million civilians including Jews,
homosexuals, Gypsies, and political dissidents. What is unique about the Jewish
victims is that these 6 million represented a third of the existing Jewish
population of all of Europe at the time.

Hitler's plan was the killing of an entire people--why would anyone lessen or make
excuses for such Evil? It is not different from the several attempts at genocide
in the 20th Century--including most recently in Rwanda, but as a crime, what could
be more heinous?

Posts regarding his age...

>Isn't it laughable that prosecutors are able to expound with such clarity >on
>acts that occurred 65 years ago while they can't locate the drug dealer >or bookie
>in your neighborhood. The guy was 17.

So he was only 17? Yes, and if a young American soldier did something
outrageous in Iraq (as several were accused a few years back
of raping a 14 year old girl, then murdering her, and burning her body along
with the rest of her family), would anyone make excuses for their age,
or for the fact that it was during a war?

While we often close our eyes to the horrors soldiers have to face in battle which
sometimes includes accidental civilian casualties, we should still be rightly
outraged by purposeful, avoidable, and especially gratuitous murdering of
civilians.

>Wow. This is not the America my Irish kin came to and not the America my >Dad
>served. Booting an old man out.. America better learn this. Bring the >troops home
>and end the wars yer in.

So now he's too old?
How would you honestly feel finding out the nice old man next door who waves and
smiles as you go to work admittedly participated in such youthful shenanigans as
the mass murder of 42,000 people? I believe in giving deference and being polite
to older people, and taking age into account for lesser victim-less crimes, but age as an excuse for murder? This is morally absurd.

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by mdalerwill at 3:18 PM : Mar 19, 2009



That is an interesting question, I don't have a truthful answer and would like an answer to that, myself. However if you are in a rut, I can probably fake one up for you.

[toolmangler-2009]

Yeah, RIGHT. I'm short, so if I find some creature unfortunate enough to be smaller, that's just urinary darwinism. They should go find and even smaller creature to pee on!
Posted by mdalerwill at 2:59 PM : Mar 19, 2009



Your not short, you are "under-tall" I gave the same advice to my 4', 11 and 15/16" Daughter. some day I might tell you what she said.

[toolmangler-2009]

My specific question is what they teach in places like West Point and Annapolis about the events leading up to the dropping of the bombs on Japan and the considerations that went into the decision.

In your case, wherever you went to school, what do you recall them teaching about that?
Posted by mdalerwill at 2:44 PM : Mar 19, 2009




When I went to school, that was current events, My children got the "Americanized version" My Grandkids told me they didn't teach ,that anymore. These days, it's best to google it, then make up your own mind about which version to believe

[toolmangler-2009]

I have a question for anyone reading this who has studied at one of the American military academies....Anyone?
Posted by mdalerwill at 2:28 PM : Mar 19, 2009




I made it thru the thurd grade, whas your question???

[toolmangler-2009]

Posted by Old_observer at 2:17 PM : Mar 19, 2009



Shouldn't uh said thayt, you just opened the door for a lot of jokes (polish or otherwise)