Poland CONFIRMS Minnesota man, 98, was infamous Nazi commander accused of massacring 44 civilians

Destruction: Karkoc's division is also said to have taken part in quashing the
Warsaw Uprising, which saw resistance groups crushed. Pictured: Civilians
being taken from a Warsaw ghetto

A state prosecutor in Poland says that evidence shows without doubt that a Minneapolis man was a Nazi unit commander suspected of contributing to the death of 44 Poles.

Robert Janicki said that years of investigation into US citizen 'Michael K' confirmed '100 percent' that he was in charge of an SS unit accused of burning villages and killing civilians during the Second World War.

Michael K has been identified as Michael Karkoc, 98, whose family deny he was involved in war crimes. He may now face extradition.

Prosecutors of the state-run Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw, which investigates and prosecutes German and Soviet crimes on Poles during and after World War II, have asked a local court in Poland to issue an arrest warrant for Karkoc.

If granted, Poland would seek his extradition, Janicki said.

Documents show that a Michael Karkoc, born March 6, 1919 in Lutsk, Ukraine, was the commander of a unit in the Ukranian Self Defense Legion (USDL), which operated in collaboration with the German army.

The unit of which he was lieutenant allegedly participated in massacres at the Polish villages of Chlaniow and Wladyslawin on July 23, 1944.

The massacres - which saw women and children murdered - were allegedly ordered in retaliation for the killing of the USDL's commander, Siegfried Assmuss.  (more...)

Poland CONFIRMS Minnesota man, 98, was infamous Nazi commander accused of massacring 44 civilians

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