Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/401392
ByRichardLardner The Associated Press WASHINGTON A senior House Democrat demanded Monday that the Obama ad- ministration investigate the payment of millions of dol- lars in Social Security ben- efits to suspected Nazi war criminals and former SS guards. Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York requested the in- quiry in letters to the in- spectors general at the Jus- tice Department and Social Security Administration af- ter an Associated Press in- vestigation detailing the payments, which continue to this day. Maloney, a high-ranking member of the House Over- sight and Government Re- form Committee, called the payments a "gross misuse of taxpayer dollars." The Jus- tice Department said it was reviewing Maloney's letter. The Social Security Admin- istration did not immedi- ately respond to a request for comment. AP reported Sunday that dozens of Nazi suspects col- lected benefits after being forced out of the United States. The payments flowed through a legal loophole that gave the Justice De- partment leverage to per- suade Nazi suspects to leave the U.S. If they agreed to go, or simply fled before depor- tation, they could keep their Social Security, according to interviews and internal U.S. government records. The Social Security Ad- ministration has refused AP's request that it provide the total number of Nazi suspects who received bene- fits and the dollar amounts. AP last week appealed the agency's denial of the information through the Freedom of Information Act. The appeal also cited several concerns about the Social Security Administra- tion's handling of the FOIA request, including the agen- cy's alteration of the request "in a manner serving both to undercut AP's inquiry while simultaneously spar- ing the SSA from having to disclose potentially embar- rassing information," the Oct. 16 appeal said. Among those receiv- ing Social Security ben- efits were SS troops who guarded the network of Nazi camps where millions of Jews perished, a rocket scientist accused of using slave laborers to advance his research in the Third Reich and a Nazi collabora- tor who engineered the ar- rest and execution of thou- sands of Jews in Poland. There are at least four living beneficiaries. They include Martin Hartmann, a former SS guard at the Sachsenhausen camp in Germany, and Jakob Denz- inger, who patrolled the grounds at the Auschwitz camp complex in Poland. Hartmann moved to Ber- lin in 2007 from Arizona just before being stripped of his U.S. citizenship. Denz- inger fled to Germany from Ohio in 1989 after learning denaturalization proceed- ings against him were un- derway. He soon resettled in Croatia and now lives in a spacious apartment on the right bank of the Drava River in Osijek. Denzinger would not discuss his situation when questioned by an AP re- porter; Denzinger's son, who lives in the U.S., con- firmed his father receives Social Security payments and said he deserved them. Because Nazi war crimes were committed outside the U.S. and almost al- ways against non-Ameri- cans, Nazi suspects could not be tried in U.S. courts. The only other legal op- tion was to prove they lied to immigration authorities about what they did dur- ing the war, and then to at- tempt either deportation or extradition. The deals that were reached instead allowed the Justice Department's former Nazi-hunting unit, the Office of Special Inves- tigations, to skirt lengthy deportation hearings and increase the number of Na- zis it expelled from the U.S. But internal U.S. govern- ment records obtained by the AP reveal heated ob- jections from the State De- partment to OSI's practices. Social Security benefits be- came tools, U.S. diplomatic officials said, to secure agreements in which Nazi suspects would accept the loss of citizenship and vol- untarily leave the United States. In her letters objecting to the process, Maloney said, "An inspector general in- vestigation into this mat- ter will make transparent the total amount paid and number of Nazi war crim- inals who received or con- tinue to receive Social Se- curity benefits." Since 1979, the AP anal- ysis found, at least 38 of 66 suspects removed from the country kept their Social Security benefits. WASHINGTON LawmakerdemandsprobeofNazibenefitpayments DARKOBANDIC—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Jakob Denzinger's portrait is seen on the tombstone of his empty grave in Cepin eastern Croatia. Denzinger is among dozens of death camp guards and suspected Nazi war criminals who collected millions of dollars in Social Security payments despite being forced out of the United States, according to an Associated Press investigation. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS This 1943file photo shows Nazi officers talking with citizens of the Warsaw ghetto in Poland. The Associated Press GARY, IND. The bodies of seven women have now been found in northwestern Indiana after a man con- fessed to killing one woman who was found strangled at a motel and leading inves- tigators to least three other bodies, authorities said Monday. The Lake County cor- oner's office said three of the bodies were found Sun- day night at two locations in Gary, in addition to the four bodies found earlier over the weekend. The cor- oner's office called the new deaths homicides, with one victim strangled and un- specified injuries for the other two women. It wasn't immediately clear Monday whether the man directed police to the three bodies Sun- day night. Phone and email messages seeking comment from Gary police spokeswoman Cpl. Gabri- elle King weren't immedi- ately returned. Police said Sunday that a 43-year-old man confessed to killing a woman whose body was found in a Motel 6 in the neighboring city of Hammond and told investi- gators where the bodies of three other women could be found in Gary. Those women were found late Sat- urday and early Sunday. Gary police found the bodies of three women at different locations in Gary late Saturday and early Sun- day, following up on infor- mation the man provided during questioning, Ham- mond police Lt. Rich Hoyda said Sunday. The county coroner's office on Sunday identified the victim found in Hammond as 19-year-old Afrika Hardy and ruled she had been strangled. The coroner's office said a second victim had been identified by family mem- bers as 35-year-old Anith Jones of Merrillville. Autop- sies had not yet been com- pleted on her or the other two women, who have not yet been identified. Jones had been missing since Oct. 8, and Gary police had recently searched a block looking for her, the Post- Tribune of Merrillville re- ported. Police discovered Hardy's body about 9:30 p.m. Friday at a Motel 6. Police investigating her death obtained a search warrant for a home and ve- hicle in Gary. Police con- ducted the search Saturday afternoon and took the man into custody. Hoyda said the man confessed during questioning and then told investigators "where sev- eral other female victims of possible homicide were located." CRIME Bo di es of 7 w om en f ou nd i n no rt hw es t In di an a a er s us pe ct c om es fo rw ar d N EWS D AILY RED BLUFF TEHAMA COUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U NTY S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Perhapsthe best bundled business promotion package in the North State! 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