Former Nazi Concentration Camp Guard Living In Tennessee To Be Deported To Germany

A court on Thursday ordered a former Nazi concentration camp guard, living in Tennessee since 1959, deported to his native country of Germany. He was tried at the Memphis Immigration Court for violating human rights while serving at a sub-camp back in 1945, during World War II.

Friedrich Karl Berger served at a Neuengamme sub-camp near Meppen, Germany, wherein several political opponents of Nazi regime such as, Jews, Poles, Russians, Danes et al. were imprisoned in “atrocious” conditions and forced to work outdoors as laborers until they were exhausted to the point of death. Berger admitted to serving as an armed guard for the sub-camp to escort the prisoners to their worksites and back during their dawn-to-dusk toil in order to prevent them from escaping, according to a ruling by Judge Rebecca Holt. The prisoners were held in the camp through the winter of 1945.

In March 1945, the Nazis left Meppen after British and Canadian forces advanced. The judge found that Berger helped to forcibly evacuate the prisoners to the Neuengamme main camp in a nearly two-week-long trip. During the trip, the prisoners were exposed to inhuman conditions leading to at least 70 deaths. Berger admitted he never asked for a transfer from concentration camp guard service.

He is still a German citizen and has been drawing a pension for his “wartime service,” the Justice Department said.

Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski said the ruling was a testament for the department’s continued commitment to obtain a measure of justice for the victims of wartime Nazi persecution, however late.

It was not immediately clear whether Berger will be prosecuted in Germany.