August 31, 2005
A retired carpenter who has lived in the United States for more than 50 years has been stripped of his US citizenship for taking part in a police organization that helped the Nazis round up Ukrainian Jews during World War II. Osyp Firishchak, 86, could also face deportation proceedings under an order issued by federal Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan. In his decision, the judge said Firishchak lied during a three-day civil trial when he denied being a member of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, which helped the Nazis arrest Jews in large numbers and send them to forced labor and death camps. During the trial the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations presented evidence that Firishchak "was a participant in an organization that perpetrated some of the most horrific acts against human decency ever known in history".
