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Last update - 00:00 30/09/2006
U.S. judge revokes citizenship of former Nazi death camp guard
By The Associated Press

A former Nazi death camp guard had his American citizenship revoked by a federal judge on Friday, but his attorneys said they plan to appeal.

The Justice Department had wanted Anton Geiser deported, saying he hid his membership in the battalion that guarded Sachsenhausen, a camp near Berlin where thousands were executed or died from starvation, disease and medical experiments.

U.S. District Court Judge David S. Cercone granted the government summary judgment in a brief order Friday that also canceled Geiser's certificate of naturalization. He ordered Geiser, 81, of Sharon, Pennsylvania to surrender any documents pertaining to citizenship.
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"Individuals like Anton Geiser, who assisted the Nazis in their quest to extinguish the lives of millions of innocent men, women and children, do not deserve the benefits of U.S. citizenship," U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said in a statement.

Eli M. Rosenbaum, director of the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations, said the government will work to remove Geiser from the country "as swiftly as possible."

Geiser's attorneys said in a statement that they planned to appeal. "We understand that Judge Cercone has issued an opinion in the case that is adverse to our client. We have not had the opportunity to fully evaluate Judge Cercone's opinion, however we do expect to file an appeal to the 3rd Circuit on behalf of Mr. Geiser," wrote his attorneys, Jay K. Reisinger and Samuel J. Reich.

Geiser, an ethnic German born in what is now Croatia, came to the United States in 1956 and became a citizen in 1962, according to the Justice Department. Geiser has lived in Sharon, about 60 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, since June 1960, with his wife, Theresia. They have
three sons. Geiser retired in 1987 after 31 years at Sharon Steel.

Thomas Forker, 50, who had known Geiser while growing up in Sharon, said he was saddened by Cercone's order."Nothing good comes out of this," Forker said. "It's sad this happened at this stage of his life."

While Forker said he has not seen Geiser in about 15 years, he recalled Geiser's family as being exemplary and Geiser being "honest to a fault."

Forker said he has doubts about the government's charges. "In my opinion, war does crazy things to all its citizens," he said.

Geiser served as an armed SS Death Head guard at the Sachsenhausen camp near Berlin for much of 1943 and then was transferred to an SS officer training camp at Arolsen. There, he escorted prisoners to and from the Buchenwald camp, where tens of thousands of Jews and others were killed. He was at Arolsen until April 1945.

According to a deposition, Geiser said he saw only one prisoner harmed at Sachsenhausen - one who stepped out of line and was shot by other guards. "I thought to myself, 'We all have bad days, some days are maybe not as good. So that poor soul maybe had something he couldn't take no more,"' Geiser said, according to the deposition.

"I did not like it then and I hate it today, but there's nothing I could do. If I could do anything, I maybe be shot myself," he added.

Geiser told federal officials that he was drafted into the German military. He denied harming prisoners even though he said he had orders to shoot prisoners who tried to escape, according to the documents.
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  1.   U.S. judge revokes citizenship of former Nazi death camp guard 06:12  |  nazi raus 30/09/06
  2.   INJUSTICE 15:14  |  Horst Wessel 30/09/06
  3.   To #Haaretz" 16:48  |  Sarah 30/09/06
  4.   German soldiers 00:50  |  Concerned Citizen 05/02/07
  5.   Anton Geiser 00:15  |  Sue 01/07/07
  6.   To Mr.Anton Geiser/July14,2007 10:22  |  Sue in Pa 14/07/07
  7.   question to sue 16:55  |  m.aleander 21/10/09
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