Wiesenthal Center Welcomes Denaturalization of Einsatzgruppe Member Oberlander and Urges German Authorities to Extradite Him to Germany

July 26, 2017

Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center today welcomed the decision of the Canadian authorities to strip Waterloo, Ontario resident Helmut Oberlander, who served in the notorious Einsatzkommando 10a of Einsatzgruppe D, of his Canadian citizenship.

In a statement issued here today by its chief Nazi-hunter Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center expressed its hope that this step would finally facilitate Oberlander's removal from Canada and his criminal prosecution for his service in one of the worst Nazi murder squads which implemented the mass murder of European Jewry during World War II.

According to Zuroff:

"This is the fourth time that Oberlander's Canadian citizenship has been revoked and hopefully he will finally be removed from Canada. This step should also facilitate his prosecution for 'accessory to murder' by the German authorities under their amended prosecution policy whereby any person who served either in a death camp (concentration camp with installations to carry out industrialized mass murder [gas chambers or gas vans]) or in the mobile killing units (Einsatzgruppen) can be convicted based on service alone of accessory to murder. We urge the German authorities to take whatever steps are necessary to be able to bring Oberlander to justice as quickly as possible."

For additional information please contact the Israel Office of the Wiesenthal Center: 972-2-563-1274 or 972-50-721-4156. Join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, or follow @simonwiesenthal and @EZuroff for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).