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Operation Last Chance was launched in July 2002 by Simon Wiesenthal Center in order to track down ex-Nazis still in hiding, as most of them would be nearing the end of their lifetimes, hence the operation's name.

Convictions and On-Going Investigations & Prosecutions

Operation Last Chance assisted in the prosecution and conviction of the notorious John Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian national, known also as "Ivan the Terrible" for his role in the torture and murder of Jews in Treblinka among other atrocities.

After John Demjanjuk was convicted in a Munich criminal court May, 2011 the Operation Last Chance team of investigators, attorneys, and prosecutors began to focus on another Ukrainian national, a Nazi collaborator who had illegally sought and obtained refuge in the United States, John Kalymon. In 2007, Kalymon had been stripped of his United States citizenship by for falsifying his background on his immigration documents and naturalization papers. The findings of the immigration judge were affirmed on appeal after the court agreed that Kalymon had been a member of the Ukrainian auxiliary police who also acted as a Lemberg ghetto guard assisting the Nazis in the liquidation of the Jewish population of Lemberg. The appellate court also affirmed the lower court's finding of fact that during the course of his collaboration with the Germans, Kalymon had caused and/or assisted in the murders of numerous inocent Jewish civilians while acting as a guard at the Lemberg Ghetto. It was on this basis that his deportation was ordered. Like Demjanjuk, once the appellate process is exhausted, Kalymon he may be deported to Germany, Ukraine, Poland or any other country that will accept him based on the ruling of the immigration court's Judge Elizabeth Hacker. But even before that, Kalymon might be facing extradition on war crimes charges based on the continuing efforts of Operation Last Chance.

Other Operation Last Chance Case Files

Kalymon's deportation order came only days after another accused Nazi war criminal, Peter Egner, died in Washington state before he could face a February 22 trial aimed at stripping him of his U.S. citizenship. He was accused by U.S. prosecutors of helping commit genocide by serving as a transport guard for mobile gas chambers and trains bound for the Auschwitz death camp. Egner had admitted he belonged to a Nazi-run security unit but denied he committed war crimes. The U.S. Justice Department's Nazi War Crimes Unit has won cases against 107 people in the United States who were identified as participating in Nazi persecutions during World War Two. Excluding Kalymon, there are eight similar cases still pending all of which are within the purview, scope and mission of the Operation Last Chance.

On January 15, 2008, the reward offered by the Wiesenthal Center for information leading to the arrest and conviction of former Nazis and Nazi collaborators was increased from $10,000 to $25,000.

References

1. http://articles.cnn.com/2011-09-20/us/us_michigan-ukrainian-nazi_1_eli-rosenbaum-ukrainian-auxiliary-police-labor-camps?_s=PM:US
2. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-usa-nazi-deportation-idUSTRE71179G20110202
3. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/us-usa-nazi-deportation-idUSTRE71179G20110202
4. David Crossland (14 January 2008). "Nazi Hunters More Than Double Reward to $25,000". Spiegel Online International. Retrieved 26 May 2011.

External links

• Operation Last Chance Website

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