16 years after escaping deportation, Nazi guard found hiding in Michigan

JTA ^ | 7-7-03 | Matthew E. Berger

[SJackson]

WASHINGTON, July 7 (JTA) — U.S. federal officials have arrested a Nazi guard who escaped deportation 16 years ago and was found hiding out in a secret compartment underneath the stairs of his former Michigan home. Johann Leprich, 77, was stripped of his citizenship in 1987 after a federal court judge found that he served as an armed SS Death´s Head guard at the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria in 1943 and 1944.

But Leprich´s attorney said he had fled the United States for Canada before he could be officially deported.

After an exhaustive search, agents from the Department of Homeland Security´s Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement found Leprich on July 1.

"We caught him on a visit," said Eli Rosenbaum, director of the Justice Department´s Office of Special Investigations.

Rosenbaum said federal officials had received numerous reports of Leprich´s visits to the United States over the years, including one trip to Michigan to renew his driver´s license.

Investigators believe that Leprich spent most of the time after his citizenship was revoked in Canada, and it was easy for him to cross the border back into the United States, even without a passport.

Neighbors described Leprich, who apparently spent considerable time in the United States, as a "good man," who gave tomatoes from his garden to people, according to the Associated Press.

Rosenbaum said he hopes Leprich will receive an abbreviated deportation trial because of his previous conviction, and that Canada will refuse him entry.

Investigators were aided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Rosenbaum said.

"This arrest makes clear that those who participated in the atrocities of the Holocaust will not escape the determined reach of U.S. law enforcement, regardless of how much time has passed," Attorney General John Ashcroft said in a news release.

"Nazi collaborators will not find safe haven in the United States."

Leprich, who was featured on television´s "America´s Most Wanted" in 1997, immigrated to the United States in 1952, and became a naturalized citizen six years later. During his time at Mauthausen, inmates were used as slave laborers in a quarry located at the camp, and inmates were starved, beaten, tortured and killed by numerous methods, the court that prosecuted him said.

The Office of Special Investigations and Department of Homeland Security claimed in court papers filed last week that Leprich should be deported because of his service at Mauthausen and because he failed to comply with a statute requiring aliens residing in the United States to report their address to federal authorities.

Since 1979, 71 Nazi persecutors have lost their U.S. citizenship and 57 have been removed from the country.

[A Citizen Reporter]

"It's called projecting."

I take then, that you've heard of the night of the long knives.

[ffusco]

"Yes, I'm familiar with the Nurnberg trials...and the Clinton impeachment not-a-trial too."

And the conclusion of this syllogism is?

[dogbyte12]

I am sure you would love to deport a Guatamalan day laborer, but when it comes to Nazi's you have a soft spot. I would say I am shocked, but I am not.

Kudos to the AG.

[Fred Mertz]

Those are your tax dollars at work; and mine too.

[Fred Mertz]

I think you meant "Guatemalen".

You're welcome.

[ffusco]

Make that Nuremberg.

[Skywalk]

No, I have not.

I'd only step into that store to beat him to death, and as I have no reason to go to jail, I won't do so.

I don't expect you'll tell of his 'devil-eyes' because evil is not so dramatic as what we see in the movies.

Many killers and evil men appear to be quite charming and nice, and getting old doesn't make you any more innocent.

[SJackson]

He's going back home to Germany, where he'll end up, at worst, doing 5 years in a spiffy white-collar dormitory "prison."

I think he's Hungarian. Even if he's German, I doubt he faces prosecution. He's an illegal alien, he'll be deported and that's about it.

[Poohbah]

I think we should give this guy gravity lessons.

[SJackson]

I think we should give this guy gravity lessons.

At 77 he's approaching his reward.

[Skywalk]

So do you have a softspot for old guys who participated in mass murder?

So like if I go gun down some kids tomorrow, in 15 years or so of hiding, you'd patronize my small business?

[Fred Mertz]

I'd only step into that store to beat him to death...

Do you realize what you said? I believe the old guy should walk.

[Poohbah]

At 77 he's approaching his reward

I'm not known for my patience.

[Fred Mertz]

This man has done nothing wrong lately. Take it from there poorboy.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Damn, Fred, you know I like you, but I've got to take issue with you on this one. Deportation back to Germany is the right thing to do.

[PhilDragoo]

This man has done nothing wrong lately.

What is the statute of limitations on complicity in mass murder and torture?

What evokes your mercy for one complicit in mass murder and torture?

Specifically, why are you sympathetic to this Nazi who participated in the murder and torture of Jews?

[Fred Mertz]

You are wrong this time. Don't fall for the propaganda of the day.

[Poohbah]

This man has done nothing wrong lately. Take it from there poorboy.

OK. Charlie Manson hasn't done anything wrong lately. You gonna argue for an early-out for the guy?

[Poohbah]

Specifically, why are you sympathetic to this Nazi who participated in the murder and torture of Jews?

A question worth asking. I doubt we'll get an answer.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Tell me how I'm wrong. I really want to know what your reasoning is, because I know you aren't an unreasonable guy.