A 95-year-old German citizen who has lived in the United States for more than 60 years has been deported to Germany by the U.S. Department of Justice on the 21st for having served as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp.
The U.S. Department of Justice said that Friedrich Karl Berger, a German citizen, served as a guard at the Neuengamme Concentration Camp in 1945 and participated in “Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution. He was a guard at Neuengamme Concentration Camp in 1945 and participated in “Nazi-sponsored persecution.
Berger has lived in the United States since 1959, previously in Tennessee, and was deported by a court in Memphis, Tennessee, in February 2020. In December of that year, German prosecutors dropped the charges against Berger due to lack of evidence.
A statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) noted that Berger had served as a guard at the annexed concentration camp near Meppen, Germany. The camp was “harsh” and enslaved inmates “to the point of exhaustion and death. The inmates included Russians, Poles, Dutch, Jews and others.
Berger admitted that he was in charge of guarding the prisoners to prevent them from escaping and that he was involved in the forced evacuation of the camp, which resulted in the deaths of 70 prisoners.
But he said he had no idea that the prisoners were being mistreated or that anyone had died. He said he was just following orders.
Acting U.S. Attorney General Monty Wilkinson said, “Deporting Berger demonstrates the commitment of the U.S. Department of Justice and its law enforcement partners that the United States will not be a safe haven for those who participated in Nazi atrocities, Crimes Against Humanity and human rights violations.”
The German prosecutor’s office in Celle said Berger has arrived in Frankfurt and will be questioned next. It is unclear whether he will face trial in Germany.
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