Nazi camp guard loses U.S. citizenship

By · June 12, 2008

A U.S. appeals court revoked the citizenship of a Pennsylvania man who worked as a Nazi concentration camp guard.

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday affirmed a ruling by the U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh revoking the U.S. citizenship of Anton Geiser of Sharon, who served during World War II as an armed SS guard at Nazi concentration camps.

Geiser admitted under oath that he served during most of 1943 as an armed SS guard at Sachsenhausen near Berlin. His duties included escorting prisoners to slave labor sites and standing guard in the camp’s guard towers. He said he was under standing orders to shoot any prisoner attempting escape.

Geiser also admitted serving as a guard at Buchenwald and its Arolsen subcamp. While Geiser served at Sachsenhausen, more than 3,000 prisoners were murdered or died from brutal treatment, including hard physical labor. Many prisoners died from exhaustion or disease; many were shot or hanged.

Geiser, 81, immigrated to the United States from Austria in October 1956, and was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in March 1962. Efforts to denaturalize him began in 2004.

“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,” said U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan. “The 3rd Circuit’s decision affirms that the United States will not be a sanctuary for perpetrators of the Holocaust.”