John Kalymon, 88, is believed to have served in the Nazi-sponsored Ukrainian Auxiliary Police during World War II, during which time he killed at least one Jew.
By HILARY LEILA KRIEGER, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENTjohn kalymon 248.88(photo credit: AP)
The US has initiated deportation proceedings against a Michigan resident alleged to have shot Jews at the behest of the Nazis, the US Department of Justice announced Monday.
John Kalymon, 88, is believed to have served in the Nazi-sponsored Ukrainian Auxiliary Police during World War II, during which time he killed at least one Jewish civilian as part of "violent anti-Jewish operations in which Jews were forcibly deported to be murdered in gas chambers and to serve as slave laborers," according to the announcement.
US authorities note that Kalymon acknowledged that he fled with retreating German forces in 1944, and allege that the former Chrysler engineer of Troy, Michigan, concealed his AUP service and other wartime activities on his immigration forms, becoming a US citizen in 1955. US law allows deportation for individuals who covered up such activities when applying for US citizenship.
An American judge revoked Kalymon's citizenship in 2007, after a case the Department of Justice's Office of Special Investigations initiated in 2004.
Kalymon could not be reached by The Jerusalem Post, but in June he told The Associated Press that he had done nothing wrong and didn't feel guilty. His lawyer told the AP that Kalymon had guarded coal from looters.
According to the judge who presided over his citizenship case, however, Kalymon took part in the so-called "Great Operation" in which 40,000 Jews were removed from the L'viv Ghetto in 1942, preventing Jews from escaping during the evacuation and "hunting Jews who attempted to hide or flee." The court pointed to documentation including a handwritten note by Kalymon in which he described some of his activities for the UAP during that period.
"With the active assistance of collaborators like John Kalymon, the Nazis annihilated some 100,000 innocent Jewish men, women and children in L'viv," said OSI Director Eli Rosenbaum in a prepared statement. "Participants in such crimes have forfeited any right to enjoy the precious privilege of US citizenship or to continue residing in the United States."
US Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said, "The ultimate removal of John Kalymon will close a very painful chapter and provide a measure of justice to his victims and their families."
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