The last known living Nazi collaborator in the United States was deported on August 21 to Germany.
According to ABC News, Jakiw Palij, 95, was an armed guard at the Trawniki death camp in Poland, where he ensured that none of the 6,000 Jews that were murdered in a camp-wide slaughter in November 1943 were able to escape.
Palij gained entry into the United States in 1949 by lying to immigration officials that he didn’t collaborate at all with the Nazis and was instead working in his hometown in Germany. He became a citizen in 1957.
However, in 2004, a federal judge ordered Palij to be deported after federal investigators unearthed Palij’s Nazi background. There has been bipartisan support for years for Palij’s deportation, but the fact that he hasn’t been a German citizen since immigrating to the United States caused the deportation to be stalled until now.
ABC is reporting that President Trump made Palij’s deportation a top priority for German Ambassador Richard Grenell.
“It’s really a credit to President Trump, who was very clear about this case, made clear he wanted this individual out of the United States,” Grenell told Fox and Friends.
Grenell also praised the recently installed German leaders for their desire to get Palij back. It is not yet known what Germany will do with him.
