German prosecutors have shelved their Nazi war crimes investigation of a retired Minnesota carpenter whom The Associated Press exposed as a former commander in an SS-led unit, saying that the 96-year-old is not fit for trial.
Munich prosecutor Peter Preuss told the AP that Michael Karkoc’s attorney had refused to allow him to be examined by a medical expert from Germany, and that his office’s decision was instead based on “comprehensive medical documentation” from doctors at the geriatric hospital in the US where he is being treated. He said doctors there had provided prosecutors with a comprehensive evaluation of Karkoc’s health over the past year, which was evaluated by a medical expert in Germany.
The German investigation began after the AP published a story in 2013 establishing that Karkoc commanded a unit in the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion accused of burning villages filled with women and children, then lied to American immigration officials to get into the United States a few years after World War II. A second report uncovered evidence that Karkoc himself ordered his men in 1944 to attack a Polish village in which dozens of civilians were killed, contradicting statements from his family that he was never at the scene.
Karkoc’s family, who live in Minneapolis, have denied he was involved in any war crimes.
When cases in Germany are shelved they can be reopened at any time if circumstances change, but in this case Preuss said that is very unlikely, AP reports.
