Jakob Reimer
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2021) |
Jakob (Jack) Reimer (November 6, 1918 – August 3, 2005) was a Trawniki camp guard who later emigrated to the United States and became a salesman and restaurant manager.
Biography
Early life in USSR
Born to
Second World War
In 1940, Reimer was drafted into the Soviet Army. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Reimer entered combat and was captured by German forces on July 6. Two months later, due to his ethnic German heritage and language skills, he was recruited to the Trawniki concentration camp for training as a camp guard.
While serving as a camp guard, Reimer participated in the liquidation of Jewish ghettos in Poland, in addition to administrative and office duties. On one occasion, Reimer fired a shot while at a pit containing corpses and at least one live civilian, which would later prove pivotal in his US denaturalization trial. In 1944, he received a War Merit Cross for his service, and was promoted to SS Senior Platoon Guard (SS-Oberzugwachmann) in 1945.
In 1944, Reimer gained German citizenship after Adolf Hitler made all ethnic German military and police personnel eligible for German citizenship.
United States
In 1952, Reimer applied for a visa to the United States and was naturalized as a United States citizen on April 28, 1959. During his time in the United States, he worked as a
Reimer was first investigated by American authorities in 1980 in connection with the
In literature
Reimer, who was Trawniki recruit No. 865, figured predominantly in Citizen 865: The Hunt for Hitler's Hidden Soldiers in America (listed below).
References
- ^ "The Nazis and the Trawniki Men". Washington Post. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
Sources
- Steinhart, Eric C. (2009). "The Chameleon of Trawniki: Jack Reimer, Soviet Volksdeutsche, and the Holocaust". doi:10.1093/hgs/dcp032. Retrieved January 31, 2021 – via Project MUSE 90 (abstract and for-pay access to article).)
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- Goldberg, Jeffrey (March 14, 1994). "The Nazi Next Door". The New Yorker. Vol. 27, no. 11. pp. 32–38. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
- "United States v. Reimer, US Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, argued August 6, 2003, decided January 27, 2004". openjurist.org. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
- Barry, Dan (September 17, 2005). "About New York; A Face Seen and Unseen on the Subway". The New York Times. Access by free subscription (January 2021).
- "Nazis Captured in the United States". parade.com. May 24, 2009. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
- Miner, Colin (June 14, 2005). "Onetime Nazi Guard Who Settled In Brooklyn Misses Court Date". The New York Sun. Archived from the original on June 9, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
- U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
We found Jakob Reimer living the American dream in a New York City suburb, and we brought him to justice. When I questioned him, he confessed that he had led a platoon of men on a mission to, in his words, "exterminate a labor camp." We will never know the names of those who were massacred by Reimer and his men, but we know that they too did not live to see justice done.
- ISBN 978-0-316-44965-6. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
- "[title lost since edit]" (PDF). FindLaw Legal Blogs. Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 29, 2011. Retrieved October 13, 2009.
- "[title lost since edit]". accessmylibrary.com.[dead link]
- "[title lost since edit]". accessmylibrary.com.[dead link]