Assemblyman Dov Hikind is calling for a Queens man suspected of Nazi war crimes to be deported. Images courtesy NYS Assembly
An assemblyman from Brooklyn called out the city Department of Transportation for not displaying ads his office paid to place on city bus stop shelters calling for the deportation of a Queens man suspected of Nazi war crimes.
Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) signed off on a contract back in February to place ads on bus shelters calling for Jakiw Palij, 91, to leave the country. Hikind, a son of Holocaust survivors himself, rallied outside the man’s home in Jackson Heights Nov. 10 calling for his deportation, but published reports said Palij has denied being involved in such war crimes. Palij could not be reached for comment.
The posters read like old-time World War II posters, showing destruction and anguish left in the wake of the horrific Nazi reign. A spokesman for the DOT did not respond to requests for comment as to whether or not they will indeed run at various city bus shelters.
“We don’t want these murderers living among us—among the descendants of the men, women and children they tortured,” Hikind said. “Their presence here mocks the memory of the tens of thousands they collectively murdered. It is our obligation to remove this evil from among us. And it is only just that today’s German government accept them into Germany so these mass murderers can finally be prosecuted.”
Hikind said his office has made it a top priority to pursue the remaining Nazi war criminals living in the United States and brought more than 150 students along with five Holocaust victims to the November rally to support the cause. At that rally, protestors shouted at the home and told the man’s neighbors they were living next door to a Nazi war criminal.
The goal, he said, was to have war criminals sent to Germany.
“Palij has had it pretty good in Queens,” said Hikind. “That’s an insult to decency. It is an affront to justice. Worst of all, it is a vile slur to the innocent souls of the men, women and children murdered by Nazis.”
The assemblyman also arranged an online petition at Change.org calling for the removal of all Nazi war criminals living in the United States, which collected 572 supporters to date. A list provided by the U.S. Justice Department’s list included Palij’s name alongside Theodor Szehinskyj in Pennsylvania and John Kalymon in Michigan.
Palij also had his citizenship already taken away, the assemblyman said, but he has since been unable to find any other countries willing to accept him.
U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm (D-Brooklyn) also threw his support behind the assemblyman’s cause and called on Germany to accept all Nazi war criminals currently living illegally in the United States.
“The rights and freedoms we enjoy in America should not extend to those who commit genocide,” said Grimm, a member of the Board of the Holocaust Museum in Washington. “Nazi War Criminals who are living in this country illegally should not be here and we will not rest easy while they are.”
“Germany created the Holocaust,” said Hikind. “They financed it. They paid for the uniforms and the gas chambers. Let Germany take responsibility for these Nazis.”
By Phil Corso
