A Former Nazi Commander Lives In Minnesota

He’s 94 and the U.S. is probably going to deport him to be prosecuted for his crimes in Germany or Poland. posted on

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A Former Nazi Commander Lives In Minnesota
Adrian Carrasquillo

1. Michael Karkoc was a top commander of a Nazi SS-led unit, which reportedly burned villages filled with women and children. The Associated Press found him in northeast Minneapolis.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press, Chris Polydoroff / AP

He lied to American immigration officials to get into the U.S. and has been living in Minnesota since the end of World War II.

2. According to the AP:


3. Heorhiy Syvyi, left, was 9 when the Ukrainian SS force that Karkoc was reportedly part of stormed his village to kill everyone as revenge for the murder of a German officer.


Syvyi managed to flee with his father and hide in a shelter covered in branches. But the rest of his family was not as lucky. His mother and 4-year-old brother were killed.


5. While the U.S. was unaware of Karkoc’s past, he apparently felt safe enough to publish a Ukrainian-language memoir in 1995, which detailed his time working with Nazis.


6. Asked about his wartime service for Nazi Germany outside of his home, Karkoc said, “I don’t think I can explain.”


A monument pays tribute to those who were killed in Pidhaitsi close to Ukraine’s western city of Lutsk.

The monument reads: “To our parents, wives, children, who were murdered by the German occupants on December 3, 1943 in Pidhaitsi. 21 people, including 9 children.”

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