Nazis in Atlanta?

[DblBarrelJ]

From the AJC 10/1/07

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An 85-year-old Gwinnett County man accused of guarding people in concentration camps in Nazi Germany said Monday that the U.S. should not deport him.

Paul Henss addressed a throng of reporters at his home near Lawrenceville just hours after the federal government announced plans to expel him from the United States. The government says Henss trained attack dogs to kill people who tried to escape from two concentration camps during World War II.

"That was in 1942," the former SS member said on Monday afternoon. "I didn't know what they were doing with the people."

The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security allege that the German citizen guarded prisoners "at the notorious Dachau and Buchenwald Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany."

The government says Henss "entered the United States in 1955 after concealing his concentration camp service."

Henss spoke over the occasional wailing of his wife, Else, after the two returned home from lunch at the Golden Corral. They seemed confused by the media attention and took turns sitting in a nearby chair to regroup.

"I was 19 years old," Henss said. "Everybody was with the Hitler youth."

Henss said he trained German Shepherds and Rottweilers to attack those who tried to escape the concentration camps. But he said he didn't know what was going on at the camps and had joined the SS primarily to fight on the front lines in World War II.

"I am not a war criminal," he said.

Henss admitted that he didn't list his service in the SS when arriving in New York more than half a century ago.

"I forgot about the war," he said. "I want to leave the war behind me."

The U.S. government's Office of Special Investigations has not forgotten. It has removed 106 participants in Nazi crimes since 1979.

The case against Henss is the first case in Georgia that the Office of Special Investigation has handled, said Jaclyn Lesch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington.

Authorities have not set a court date for Henss.

"Hundreds of thousands of persons were confined under horrific conditions at Dachau and Buchenwald on the basis of their race, religion, national origin or political opinion," Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher said in a statement from Washington Monday.

"By commencing these proceedings against a man who participated in the victimization of those who were interned there, the Justice Department continues to make good on its pledge to ensure that the United States does not become a sanctuary for human rights violators."

Director Eli M. Rosenbaum of the Office of Special Investigations said in a statement that "the SS committed mass murder at Dachau and Buchenwald and subjected thousands of inmates to slave labor, starvation, grotesque medical experimentation, and torture.

"The brutal concentration camp system could not have functioned without the determined efforts of SS men such as Paul Henss, who, with a vicious attack dog, stood between these victims and the possibility of freedom."

Court documents allege that Henss joined the Hitler Youth organization in 1934 and joined the Nazi Party in September 1940. He volunteered guard dogs that were trained to "bite without mercy" anyone trying to escape and "literally tear prisoners to pieces if they tried to escape."

During an interview with federal investigators, court documents say, Henss admitted that he served as a concentration camp guard for a few months, that he guarded forced labor details and "instructed other SS personnel on dog-handling techniques."

Brian Feagans - AJC 10/1/07



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So what do you guys think? Should this guy be deported?

[PLOlover]

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So what do you guys think? Should this guy be deported?

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I say no. if he was ann officer or nco or even just 29 instead of 19 at the time I would say maybe.

[DblBarrelJ]

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So what do you guys think? Should this guy be deported?

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I say no. if he was ann officer or nco or even just 29 instead of 19 at the time I would say maybe.

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Wow PLO, I believe this is the first time the two of us have ever saw eye to eye on something. I agree. I also feel that there are millions of illegals in this country, some of which are still committing violent acts as we speak.

Regardless of this man's past, I do not believe that he has the ability or the means to commit harm now.

[Low Key]

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the Justice Department continues to make good on its pledge to ensure that the United States does not become a sanctuary for human rights violators."

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Yeah, we can't allow people in ths country who..

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subjected thousands of inmates to slave labor, starvation, grotesque medical experimentation, and torture.

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Gah.. Hmmm.. Someone should probably tell her we're actually okay with torture now, just as long as you call it an 'alternative interrogation technique'.

On a personal note, is this story a little more interesting if you substitute the assistant AG with Alice from the Resident Evil movies? Or is that just me?

[bobman0330]

Assuming all this can be proven, of course he should be deported. Why wouldn't he be?

I'd be a little more sympathetic if you were to claim that the government spends too much money tracking down and deporting Nazi criminals. But once you find them, of course you should get rid of them.

[BCPVP]

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Assuming all this can be proven, of course he should be deported. Why wouldn't he be?

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Why should he be?

[Copernicus]

Can he be tried as a war criminal without deportation or at least extradition? I think its obvious he should be tried.

[DblBarrelJ]

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Assuming all this can be proven, of course he should be deported. Why wouldn't he be?

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Assuming all what? I'd like some proof he has blood on his hands. Not every Nazi killed people, that's as ignorant as claiming every US soldier killed someone. I have two grandfathers and an uncle who served in WWII, two more uncles, and my own father who served in Vietnam, none of which ever had to kill anyone.


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I'd be a little more sympathetic if you were to claim that the government spends too much money tracking down and deporting Nazi criminals. But once you find them, of course you should get rid of them.

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If he was marching people into gas chambers, get him out. If he was training service dogs, then shut up and get back to work on the 20 million Mexican march currently taking place at the US Southern border.


BTW, my gf is of Japanese heritage, her grandfather lives in this country, and he served Japan in WWII. I assume he should be deported too?

[bobman0330]

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Assuming all this can be proven, of course he should be deported. Why wouldn't he be?

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Why should he be?

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1. Immigration law requires it.
2. So he has to leave his home and his family and all his friends.
3. He was doubtless allowed into this country and granted citizenship on fraudulent premises.
4. He's a Nazi who did terrible things, and we should punish him to the maximum feasible extent of the law.

[bobman0330]

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Assuming all what? I'd like some proof he has blood on his hands. Not every Nazi killed people, that's as ignorant as claiming every US soldier killed someone. I have two grandfathers and an uncle who served in WWII, two more uncles, and my own father who served in Vietnam, none of which ever had to kill anyone.

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I think proof that he trained attack dogs to kill or maim any innocent civilians who tried to flee from Dachau should be perfectly sufficient.

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BTW, my gf is of Japanese heritage, her grandfather lives in this country, and he served Japan in WWII. I assume he should be deported too?

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Did he "serve" Japan by helping to perpetrate terrible crimes against civilians and prisoners?

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If he was training service dogs, then shut up and get back to work on the 20 million Mexican march currently taking place at the US Southern border.

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So you're saying that US immigration policy is flawed because we don't take enough of a Nazi approach to things?