US deports Nazi camp guard Palij to Germany
Two views of guilt
But the German authorities reluctance to confront the case is not unusual: In the last four decades, the US has deported 70 aging Nazi perpetrators to Germany, and the vast majority have never faced a German court.
Many, such as the Polish-born Jakiw Palij, a 95-year-old SS collaborator who was deported from his home in New York to Germany in 2018 after a long diplomatic battle over where he should be sent, simply end up living out their final days in a care home at the expense of the national insurance system.