1

_______________________________________________________________________
1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2011 (202) 514-2007
WWW.JUSTICE.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
1
DETROIT-AREA MAN WHO SHOT JEWS WHILE SERVING AS NAZI
POLICEMAN ORDERED REMOVED FROM THE UNITED STATES

WASHINGTON – An immigration judge in Detroit has ordered John (Ivan)

Kalymon of Troy, Mich., removed from the United States because of his participation in
Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution while serving during World War II as an armed
member of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police (UAP) in Nazi-occupied L’viv, Ukraine,
announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division.

“Mr. Kalymon participated in the Nazi-led effort to exterminate the Jews of

Europe during World War II, and committed atrocities to achieve that goal,” said
Assistant Attorney General Breuer. “Neither he nor other human rights violators should
be allowed to gain sanctuary in this country. The decision granting Mr. Kalymon’s
removal, and the more than 100 other cases won by the Justice Department against Nazi
perpetrators, reflect our steadfast commitment to pursuing justice on behalf of the victims
of crimes against humanity across the globe.”

The removal order was issued by U.S. Immigration Judge Elizabeth Hacker.
Kalymon, 89, immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1949 and became a U.S.
citizen in 1955. In 2004, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit seeking revocation of
Kalymon’s U.S. citizenship. Following trial, a federal judge granted that request in 2007,
finding that Kalymon had participated in the rounding up and shooting of Jews. The
evidence included an Aug. 14, 1942, report handwritten by Kalymon in which he
informed his UAP superiors that he had personally killed one Jew and had wounded
another “during the Jewish operation” that day.

In a 28-page decision dated Jan. 31, 2011, Judge Hacker ordered Kalymon
deported to Germany, Ukraine, Poland or any other country that will admit him. Judge
Hacker found, as had the district court, that during Kalymon’s voluntary 1941-44 service
in the UAP, German authorities enacted a series of persecutory anti-Jewish decrees that
were enforced in L’viv by UAP personnel. German and UAP forces rounded up Jews,
beating and shooting those who showed any sign of resistance, and sent most of them to
be murdered in the gas chambers at the Belzec extermination center. Some were shot or
sent to be worked to death in forced labor camps.
 Judge Hacker’s decision relied on surviving UAP documents that established that
on repeated occasions over two years, Kalymon took part in round-ups and forced
transports of Jews. The judge further found that Kalymon concealed his UAP service
when applying for his immigrant visa.

“Ivan Kalymon was part and parcel of the Nazi machinery of persecution that
ended the lives of more than 100,000 men, women and children in L’viv,” said Eli M.
Rosenbaum, Director of Human Rights Enforcement Strategy and Policy for the Criminal
Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section (HRSP).

The Department of Justice’s Criminal Division announced the formation of HRSP on

March 30, 2010, as part of the U.S. government’s efforts to bring human rights violators
to justice and deny those violators safe haven in the United States. The new section
represents a merger of the Criminal Division’s Domestic Security Section (DSS) and
Office of Special Investigations (OSI).

This case is a result of the Justice Department’s ongoing efforts to identify,

investigate and take legal action against former participants in Nazi persecution who
reside in the United States. Since the inception of this program in 1979, the Department
has won cases against 107 individuals who assisted in Nazi persecution. In addition, 180
suspected Axis persecutors who sought to enter the United States have been blocked from
doing so as a result of the department’s “watchlist” program, enforced in cooperation
with the Department of Homeland Security. The removal case against Kalymon was
litigated by HRSP Senior Trial Attorney William H. Kenety V, with assistance from
Frank Ledda, Senior Chief Counsel in the Detroit Office of the U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement.

Additional information about the Justice Department’s human rights enforcement

efforts can be found at www.justice.gov/criminal/hrsp.

###

11-142

DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS, PLEASE USE THE CONTACTS
IN THE MESSAGE OR CALL THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT 202-514-2007.