Jerry Nadler’s duty to history: Probe the State Department’s failure to deport Nazis

 

It was 75 years ago today — Oct. 1, 1946, the 218th and final day of the Nuremberg tribunal, with the Americans, Brits, Soviets and French sitting in judgment of 21 Nazi der Bonze (bigwigs) — that the verdicts were read. Three were acquitted and 18 pronounced guilty, with seven sentenced to long prison terms and 11 to “death by hanging.”

The line from “The Caine Mutiny” (the novel and the stage version, not the film): “Can’t stop a Nazi with a lawbook,” proved untrue.

The law continued to pursue justice against Nazis who snuck into America. The legendary House Judiciary Committee Chair Peter Rodino passed the 1978 Holtzman Amendment, named for Brooklyn Rep. Liz Holtzman, to bar Nazis from these shores, and the Department of Justice set up the Office of Special Investigations in 1979 to find and deport Nazis.

There were many successes. But due to State Department obstruction, too many times did diplomats block efforts to deport these fiends, not wanting to upset friendly countries in Europe.  (more...)

Jerry Nadler’s duty to history: Probe the State Department’s failure to deport Nazis