Senator Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican, today asked United States immigration authorities to investigate the case of Dr. Edward V. Sittler, Long Island university teacher recently exposed as an ex-Nazi who renounced American citizenship to serve Hitler’s Germany.
Senator Javits asked General Joseph Swing, immigration commissioner, for a report on how Sittler obtained an alien visa and the background of previous deportation actions against him. (In an interview with the New York Post today Sittler said that he still thinks that the Jews dictated America’s entry into World War II.)
A native-born American, Sittler embraced the Nazi ideology, went to Germany in 1937. He renounced American citizenship, Joined the Nazi party, and did propaganda work for the Nazis during the war. In 1946 he was brought to the United States as a witness in treason cases. He was not tried for treason himself because he had renounced his citizenship.
He fought a number of deportation orders, remaining in the United States until 1953 when he went to Cuba. He returned in 1954 with an alien visa. He subsequently filed for American citizenship and is slated to appear before a hearing in New York Thursday in connection with his petition for citizenship. Sittler has been supported by a number of Long Island university authorities.
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