Mercer County, PA – A federal appeals court has agreed to hear the case of a man facing deportation for standing guard at Nazi concentration camps during World War II.
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Anton Geiser, 83, of Sharon admitted that he served as a Nazi but said he never harmed or killed anyone.
In 2006, U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone stripped Geiser's citizenship, which allowed the government to move forward with the deportation process. Geiser's lawyers filed an appeal with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia to block that process.
The court will take up Geiser's appeal on March 3.
Geiser's lawyers claim the native Yugoslavian was drafted into Nazi service and had no choice in the matter.
The government claims former Nazi camp guards were barred from coming to the United States as refugees, regardless of whether he refrained from killing people.
The government says he tried to conceal his true role in the Nazi regime. Geiser's lawyers argue that no one ever asked if he was in the Waffen SS. [pittsburghlive]
Even if the appeals court sides with the government, Geiser still might never be deported. The United States has found it increasingly difficult to convince other countries to accept these elder deportees. Germany, Romania and other European countries have refused in recent years.