“Leave him alone.” “He’s 94 years old.” “Just let it go.” If you are reading this column, no doubt you have heard these arguments in response to the shocking allegation that Michael Karkoc, a Minnesota immigrant, is a former Ukrainian Legion commander allied with the Nazi SS whose unit is connected to war crimes.
Before exploring why we must today reject the notion that there can ever be a statute of limitations for reprisals against innocent civilians, it is instructive to revisit what the leaders of the “Greatest Generation” thought on this matter.
At a time when victory over Nazi Germany was not a certainty and the full extent of the Holocaust was not yet realized or known, the eleven Allied governments, including those of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, issued a statement known as the “Joint Declaration by Members of the United Nations” in December 1942 to respond to the mounting evidence of a coordinated Nazi effort to “exterminate the Jewish people.” In this statement, the Allies “condemn[ed] in the strongest possible terms this bestial policy of cold-blooded extermination. They declar[ed] that such events can only strengthen the resolve of all freedom-loving peoples to overthrow the barbarous Hitlerite tyranny. They reaffirm[ed] their solemn resolution to ensure that those responsible for these crimes shall not escape retribution, and to press on with the necessary practical measures to this end.”
Moreover, according to The New York Times, such concern was not just limited to Jews, “but also to other innocent civilians who have been the victims of reprisals and persecution.” Notably for the purposes of the debate over what to do with Karkoc and his alleged crimes, this Joint Declaration provided no exemption for “those responsible for these crimes” should they somehow manage to escape justice for decades or be fortunate enough to live to an advanced age.
In response, some might argue that this solemn promise comes from a different time and a morally less developed place. Accordingly, notwithstanding the fact that there is no statute of limitations for murder or for lying to immigration officials, some argue that as a moral matter, a more civilized society should leave aside the grave allegations of war crimes and let him live out the rest of his days in peace. In responding then to this question of justice, it is necessary to weigh the scales between investigating and possibly deporting Karkoc for his alleged crimes against humanity and just leaving him alone.
Allegations, and Karkoc's own memoir
On the one side, as amply developed by the Associated Press investigation, we have the allegation that Karkoc volunteered to found and lead a Ukrainian unit, which participated in the reprisals against innocent civilians. Moreover, based on the reporting before us, Karkoc volunteered for a Ukrainian unit which came to be affiliated with the Nazi SS. Karkoc’s own 1995 memoir, written in his own hand, says as much about his volunteering for service on behalf of the Nazis with the Ukrainian Legion. This speaks volumes of both his responsibility and whether with the passage of time his heart has truly softened.
On the other side of the ledger, we have the plea that a 94-year-old man – despite the evidence of his lying to U.S. authorities about his participation on the Axis side of World War II – should be allowed to live out the rest of his days in peace and quiet, surrounded by his loved ones and in comfort. Such sentiments are understandable given that living to 94 is indeed remarkable for any human being. It is also most likely true that at his advanced age, Karkoc is no longer a threat to anyone.
For those who proffer such arguments, I would ask is there something magical about escaping justice until you are 94 that wipes the slate clean of all wrongs committed? Is it that, having only been implicated in the war crimes, we can move on, but if the evidence was to suggest that Karkoc had ordered the reprisals against innocent civilians, that would be a different matter? What about mercy and justice for those who were the targets of the reprisals? An adage of American law is to receive equity you must do equity, and there seems nothing in the record to suggest Karkoc is entitled to any leniency with respect to his age.
If it is not so much a question of Karkoc’s age, but the time elapsed since his alleged crimes were committed or the physical distance between the quiet neighborhoods of Northeast Minneapolis and the reprisals in Ukraine or Poland, I would counter that the fact that these atrocities happened 70 years ago in Europe doesn't make the deaths of the reprisal victims any less real or awful. Those who were the victims of the reprisals were no less important, no less real than you or me. We know this because their surviving loved ones – who still grieve for their parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and teachers.
Moreover, my organization, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, is the principal Minnesota Jewish agency responsible for educating about the millions who perished and honoring the survivors of Nazi persecution by focusing on local survivor testimony. Their testimony, their moral truth, is powerful.
Why an exception here?
And why having lived a quiet and peaceful life until the age of 94 is it so morally intolerable that at the very least Karkoc be submitted to the shame and the inconvenience of a legal proceeding with full due process where finally, 70 years later, the truth can come out? Why, as a society which seeks to be both civilized and just, would we choose to make an exception here, and only here, for an alleged Nazi commander who may be linked to war crimes?
What, also, of the thousands of Minnesota soldiers killed in battle in France, Germany and Italy – some at the hands of the very Nazi SS which Karkoc allegedly willingly joined? The graduates of the northeast Minneapolis high schools – Edison, Henry, DeLaSalle – lay in their graves beneath their crosses in the American military cemeteries of Europe while Karkoc walked their tree-lined streets named for our presidents. (I'll add as a personal point their neighbor, from a trolley car ride away, my cousin Gerald "Sonny" Cohen – North High graduate – lies in his grave in France beneath a Star of David.) What, also, of the legacy of the Nuremberg war crimes trials – the ad hoc tribunals for Rwanda and Bosnia and the creation of the permanent International Criminal Court at The Hague? Should we step aside from the international consensus and commitment to investigate and prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity whenever possible?
Let me be clear that should the U.S. Department of Justice’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (formally the Office of Special Investigations) follow the letter and the spirit of the law and not leave Karkoc alone and thus fully investigate him for the atrocities for which he has been allegedly connected with an aim for possible extradition to willing prosecutors in Europe, there can still be no perfect justice. (I do applaud the fact that German prosecutors announced that they opened a formal preliminary investigation of Karkoc.) The martyred dead of all faiths can never be brought back to life no matter how much, or how little, Karkoc is held accountable for his crimes. That Karkoc was able to escape accountability for so long speaks not in favor of letting him be, but in how little justice still remains available for an alleged murderer who almost completely got away with it.
Still though, by carefully and fairly weighing the evidence in a court of law and holding Karkoc responsible for his alleged crimes, some quantum of justice is still available for his victims, both those who perished and the few who survived. Moreover, as the inheritors of a promise made in the darkest days of the Second World War, by not leaving Karkoc alone, by insisting that he spend the rest of his days being held accountable for his alleged crimes, we keep faith with those who fought, those who died, those who suffered, and those who persevered against the worst evil the world has ever known, that no matter how long it takes or the distance traveled, “those responsible for these crimes shall not escape retribution.”
Steve Hunegs is the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
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