Alleged Nazi collaborator to lose Canadian citizenship

TORONTO, Feb.2 (JTA) — Lawyers for an accused Nazi collaborator who lives in the Montreal area have told Canada’s federal Justice Department that they will not contest efforts to rescind his citizenship. Denaturalization is the first step in the Canadian government’s plan to deport Mamertas Roland Maciukas, who was allegedly a member of the 2nd Lithuanian Police Battalion. A killing unit that worked with the Nazi SS, the battalion was responsible for the murders of tens of thousands of Jews, partisans and suspected communists. Maciukas is one of 14 suspected Nazi war criminals and collaborators that Canada has brought denaturalization proceedings against during the last few years. Only one other suspect has previously chosen not to fight denaturalization. After being stripped of his citizenship, Ladislaus Csizsik-Csatary, a former officer in the Royal Hungarian Police who helped the Nazis round up Jews for deportation to Auschwitz, left Canada voluntarily just as the government was preparing to deport him. He is presumed to have gone to Hungary. Three suspects from the government’s list of 14 have died while their cases were pending, and the remaining nine suspects are still awaiting court action. Meanwhile, the government has announced plans to name more suspects in the coming months. One suspect expected to be named is Joseph Kitsilaetis, who like Maciukas is allegedly a former member of the Lithuanian Police Battalion. Kitsilaetis, who settled in Canada after the war, moved to the United States in 1962 but returned to Canada in 1985 after the Nazi-hunting U.S. Office of Special Investigations began proceedings against him. Activists held a demonstration last summer outside his house, hoping to bring attention to his continued presence in Canada. “We really wonder why Kitsilaetis is still here, unhampered and unfettered by the judicial process,” said Bernie Farber, national director of community relations for the Canadian Jewish Congress. “Even though the United States is prepared to bring proceedings against him, Canada has yet to do so.”