Report: Minneapolis Man Linked To Nazi Attack

The Associated Press uncovers new testimony about a 1944 attack on a village in Poland

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Newly discovered testimony links a Minnesota man to a 1944 massacre of a village in Poland during World War II, according to the Associated Press.

The testimony from a private who had been under the command of  Michael Karkoc, a 94-year-old Ukrainian immigrant who lives in Minneapolis, says Karkoc ordered the attack on the Polish village of Chlaniow, where 44 civilians were killed in retaliation for the death of an SS major. Karkoc, who came to the United States in 1949 and has been the focus of AP investigations since earlier this year, commanded an SS-led Ukrainian Self Defense Legion during the war.

The AP’s initial investigation found that Karkoc, a retired carpenter, was in the area of the massacre but uncovered no documents linking him to the killings, but the newly uncovered testimony appears to contradict his family’s earlier statements that he wasn’t involved. Karkoc’s some, contacted by the AP for comment, said only: “We will not respond.”

A German prosecutor now says he will ask the country’s Federal Criminal Court to decide which prosecutor has jurisdiction, a first step toward bringing possible charges against Karkoc there.

[AP]