In first, Nazi-hunting group downgrades US

13 April 2015, 7:43 pm

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The world’s predominant Nazi-hunting group is taking the United States to task over its failure to prosecute a member of a notorious Nazi killing unit who lived quietly in Minnesota for decades.

In its annual report, the Simon Wiesenthal Center says that it had lowered its ranking of the US’s Nazi-hunting efforts from A to B. It was the first time the US has been ranked so low.

In this May 22, 1990 photo, Michael Karkoc, photographed in Lauderdale, Minn. prior to a visit to Minnesota from Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in early June of 1990. (photo credit: AP/The St. Paul Pioneer Press, Chris Polydoroff) — In this May 22, 1990, photo, Michael Karkoc, photographed in Lauderdale, Minnesota, prior to a visit to Minnesota from Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev in early June, 1990. (photo credit: AP/The St. Paul Pioneer Press, Chris Polydoroff)

Efraim Zuroff, director of the center’s Israel office, says the ranking was in part because the US took no action against Michael Karkoc. An Associated Press investigation exposed the retired carpenter as a commander in an SS-led Ukrainian unit.

This year’s report praises Germany for loosening criteria to make it easier to prosecute former Nazis.

— AP