Photo Courtesy of Google
Palij still lives on this 89th Street block in Jackson Heights.
By Michael V. Cusenza
The U.S. State Department this week remained silent amid calls for the agency to finally act and deport a Nazi-era guard living in Jackson Heights.
According to the entire New York bipartisan delegation to Congress, Jakiw Palij, 94, was allowed to enter the United States because he concealed his prior service to the Nazi regime. The lawmakers last week sent a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him to immediately deport Palij, who, according to the New York Daily News, served as a guard at the Trawniki concentration and Schutzstaffel (commonly referred to as the SS) training camp in German-occupied Poland.
The State Department has not returned requests from The Forum seeking comment.
“Removing Mr. Palij from American soil will send a message not only to the citizens of New York, but to the entire world. It will make clear that the United States does not condone hatred and will not shelter those who have committed atrocities against innocents,” the elected officials said. “For Holocaust survivors, Mr. Palij’s deportation will confirm that the heinous crimes committed against them during the Nazi era will never be forgotten.”
But as the pols noted in their message to Tillerson, this is not the first time that legislators have called for Palij to be shipped out of the country.
“In 2004, after finding that Mr. Palij was allowed to enter the United States by concealing his prior service to the Nazi regime, he was stripped of his citizenship and it was ordered that he be deported,” the lawmakers wrote. “However, because no country has agreed to accept him, Mr. Palij has not yet been made to leave the U.S. despite these rulings. Mr. Palij must be deported immediately. It has been 13 years since Mr. Palij lost his right to remain here, and it has taken far too long for these court orders to be carried out.”
This is the second time in recent weeks that Empire State elected officials have asked Tillerson for assistance on the matter.
“Last month, many of us reached out to you regarding the stalled deportation… A response from the Bureau of Legislative Affairs described the State Department’s efforts to urge the governments of Germany, Poland, and Ukraine to accept Mr. Palij and enable his deportation,” the missive noted. “As this has been going on for more than a decade, we write as bipartisan, bicameral representatives of the people of New York to ask that you personally step in to settle this long-standing injustice and ensure Mr. Palij is removed from the United States.”
