Ukrainian News |28Apr2016 | Jeff Outhit

Ottawa seeks ruling on Oberlander case

Stung by a legal defeat, the federal government wants the Supreme Court to rule that politicians acted within the law in revoking the citizenship of Helmut Oberlander, 92, for serving in a Nazi death squad [at the tender age of 17].

[W.Z. It is not the "federal government", nor is it the "federal cabinet", nor is it the "308 members of parliament" and it certainly is not the "36 million residents of Canada", who are interested in persecuting 92-year-old nanogenarians for events that occurred 75 years ago. It is a small segment of bureaucrats within the Department of Justice, beholden to the Holocaust Industry, who are interested in subverting the Canadian justice system.]

In Waterloo on April 16, 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his Liberal government is committed to prosecuting immigrants such as Oberlander who lie about their past to become citizens.

"There is one condition in which citizenship can be revoked, and that is when it is acquired based on fraud, misinformation, and not representing clearly who one was," Trudeau said.

"And that is at the core of this case I'm sure, as many other cases that are similar. And that's why we take the question of citizenship very, very seriously."

"Canadians are rightly proud, not just of our citizenship but of our values that are articulated by that citizenship, and we have to make sure that we're doing everything to defend the principles and values that it mean to be Canadian."

[W.Z. The verbiage utilized by Justin Trudeau is virtually identical to that utilized by these corrupt bureaucrats in the DoJ to justify abandonment on 31Jan1995 of criminal prosecution (beyond a reasonable doubt) of alleged war crimes in favour of civil prosecution (on a balance of probabilities) for "lying" during immigration proceedings to revoke the citizenship of their victims.]

The government said it wants the Supreme Court's "direction and guidance" on issues around the depth of Oberlander's involvement in the death squad, his level of complicity in its murders, and the threats that the Nazis might have made against him to make him comply.

[The Supreme Court of Canada consists of nine Judges (Beverley McLachlin, Rosalie Silberman Abella, Thomas Albert Cromwell, Michael J. Moldaver, Richard Wagner, Clement Gascon, Suzanne Cote, Russel Brown).]

This is after the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in February 2016 that the federal cabinet, in revoking his citizenship in 2012, failed to properly consider "the extent to which (Oberlander) made a significant and knowing contribution" to the death squad. That ruling restored Oberlander's citizenship.

"The government believes the Federal Court of Appeal's decision raises a number of issues of public importance, in particular, the test for duress and the proper framework in which duress and complicity are assessed," said Andrew Gowing, spokesperson for the Department of Justice.

Jewish groups who are clamouring for Oberlander's deportation applaud the government for not abandoning the Oberlander prosecution despite a string of legal defeats.

"In taking this latest action, the current government merits full credit for demonstrating resolve and determination in its pursuit of justice for Holocaust victims," said Shimon Koffler Fogel, chief executive of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

"Let us all speak as united voices ... and let the government know that there is no time limit or age consideration to bring the guilty to justice," said Nate Leipeiger, a Holocaust survivor and former co-president of a grassroots group [name?] of Holocaust survivors and descendants.

[W.Z. Do these charter members of the Holocaust Industry support the prosecution  of the perpetrators of the 1948 Nabka genocide of Palistinians from land that now constitutes the state of Israel? Should Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) perpetrating atrocities in the West Bank of Palestine and the Gaza Strip be arrested and prosecuted, if they ever set foot in Canada?]

Oberlander supporter Ernst Friedel said that by not abandoning its prosecution, the government is unjustly targeting a man who committed no war crime, and is wasting public money pursuing a case it has lost three times and can't win.

"It's laughable," said Friedel, a director of the German Canadian Congress, which opposes the government's bid to deport Oberlander. "He was only translating, so people could communicate."

Oberlander is an ethnic German who was born and raised in the former Soviet Union [Ukraine]. After German invaders overran his village in 1941 in the Second World War, he served as a low-ranking, decorated interpreter with a mobile Nazi death squad that murdered an estimated 23,000 people, mostly Jews.

A court [Judge MacKay] found no evidence that Oberlander personally committed atrocities, but has ruled [28Feb2000] that he lied about being a death squad member when he immigrated in 1954. Canada gave him citizenship in 1960 and he retired as a successful Waterloo developer. [See differing opinion of Judge Salhany and Federal Court of Appeal decision on 31May2004.]

Federal cabinets have failed three times since 2001 to revoke Oberlander's citizenship, defeated every time by Oberlander in court.

The Supreme Court, which ruled on a different aspect of the Oberlander case in 1997, may choose not to hear the government's appeal of its latest defeat.

If the top court declines to get involved, the government could try for a fourth time to revoke Oberlander's citizenship, pending another legal challenge by Oberlander. Or the government could finally end a prosecution that it launched in 1995 but has failed to conclude.

The government's bid to put the case before the Supreme Court has surprised and disappointed Oberlander and his family, said his lawyer, Ron Poulton. "It's a bit peculiar," he said. "I am a bit surprised."

He said Oberlander intends to keep defending himself, pointing out that the government is asking the top court to overturn a unanimous ruling that awarded costs to Oberlander.

By Jeff Outhit, Waterloo Region Record


[W.Z. Almost 8 years ago on 01Nov2008, the Waterloo Region Record wrote a similar editorial on the case of Helmut Oberlander at the end of which we concluded:

"We fully agree! The denaturalization and deportation policy initiated in January 1995 by Allan Rock of the Liberal government to replace criminal prosecution was ill-conceived and should never have been allowed to happen. It remains a permanent blot on our judiciary and legal system, which can only be removed by an apology and full monetary compensation of its victims."

There are hundreds of archived articles refering to Mr. Oberlander on the MoZeus page of our website, in particular, the links to Wasyl Odynsky (Oberlander) and Joseph Furman (Skomatchuk).

In the United States, the "Nazi war criminal" saga is encapsulated by the multiple trials of John Demjanjuk starting about 1975 (as recorded in the Lily page and the 2009 and 2011 links on the MoZeus page) and even after his death on 17Mar2012.

In Canada, Brian Mulroney triggered  the "Nazi war criminal" craze with the establishment of the Deschenes Commission  on 07Feb1985 (presumably to fulfill an election promise to Charles Bronfman). This was followed by the establishment of the nefarious "Canadian war crimes unit" which failed to convict Imre Finta (who was defended by Doug Christie) in 1990, the verdict of which was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1994. Finally, there was a switch to the "denaturalization-deportation" scenario on 31Jan1995 by Justice Minister Allan Rock of Jean Chretien's government. Thousands of articles on the d&d issue are archived in various links on the MoZeus page, as well as the Katriuk2012 link on the WiZeus page.

Perhaps it is time to establish an anti-Deschenes Commission to examine the nefarious machinations of the corrupt bureaucrats in the Department of Justice and their political supporters.]