By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
BERLIN, Germany – Following evidence that a former Nazi SS officer has been living in Minnesota since 1949, Polish prosecutors promised to assist the U.S. Department of Justice in their investigation of falsified immigration papers. As obligated, Germany may prosecute Michael Karkoc for war crimes as a Nazi with “command responsibility,” even if no country can prove Karkoc’s direct involvement in atrocities.
While no current evidence demonstrates that Karkoc directly committed war crimes, evidence corroborates suggestions that Karkoc was present as the company leader when his Ukrainian company massacred civilians. Further, Nazi SS files mention Officer Karkoc’s involvement in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, where Nazis brutally suppressed a Polish rebellion.
In 1949, Karkoc denied his World War II military service to American authorities. However, records demonstrate that Karkoc worked as an officer and founding member of the SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion. According to an SS payroll document, Karkoc was the highest-ranking officer of the company. Later, Karkoc was an officer in the SS Galician Division. Both organizations were blacklisted and their members forbidden from entering the United States.
While Germany plans to investigate with the possibility of future prosecution, Poland may also be a possibility because most alleged crimes were against Poles on Polish territory. Regardless, Karkoc would be unlikely to be tried in his native Ukraine, where such men are today largely seen as national heroes who fought for the country against the Soviet Union.
Members of his unit and other witnesses have told stories of brutal attacks on civilians. But Karkoc refused to answer questions. “I don’t think I can explain,” Karkoc said.
“It was all like a trance: setting the fires, the shooting, the destroying,” one of Karkoc’s men, Vasyl Malazhenski recalled in a 1967 statement. “Later, when we were passing in file through the destroyed village,” Malazhenski said, “I could see the dead bodies of the killed residents: men, women, children.”
In 1995, Karkoc published a memoir in Ukrainian. Karkoc wrote that he joined the German army in 1941, following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. At that time, he fought on the Eastern Front in Ukraine and Russia, where he received an Iron Cross for bravery. In 1943, Karkoc helped found the Ukrainian Self Defense Legion. Also, Karkoc served as a company commander in the unit, which the SS managed until the end of the war. However, Karkoc does not discuss massacres of civilians.
As a hobby, a retired clinical pharmacologist researched Nazi war crimes. Through that research, he found Karkoc’s name among members of the SS Galician Division who emigrated to Britain. After an internet search revealed Karkoc’s Minnesota address, the pharmacologist informed AP.
One of Karkoc’s four sons born after the war stated that the story is “notably lacking in proof or evidence,” calling the AP’s story “sensationalist and scandalous.”
If finding the officers who committed World War II atrocities has been challenging to date, a greater difficulty presents itself in ensuring that Michael Karkoc is in fact Officer Karkoc.
For further information, please see:
Minneapolis Star Tribune – Son Disputes Report That Minneapolis Man was Ex-Nazi Commander – 15 June 2013
New York Times – Minnesota Man, 94, is Investigated for Nazi Ties – 15 June 2013
USA Today – Shock Lingers after Nazi Unit Leader Found in Minnesota – 15 June 2013
Associated Press – AP Impact: Commander of Nazi-Led Unit Lives in US – 14 June 2013
International Business Times – Minnesota Nazi: Michael Karkoc, 94-Year-Old Former Nazi-SS Commander, Found Living in Minneapolis – 14 June 2013
The Telegraph – Commander in Nazi SS-Led Unit Linked to Atrocities ‘Found Living in Minnesota’ – 14 June 2013
