Canadian Jewish Congress' "Rat on a Nazi" approach to war criminals issue is denounced (05/25/97)

Canadian Jewish Congress' "Rat on a Nazi" approach to war criminals issue is denounced

by Christopher Guly

OTTAWA - Despite having its method of tracking down war criminals in Canada criticized by both members of its own, as well as the Ukrainian-Canadian communities, a representative of the Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) insists its goal is to rid the country of suspected Nazi collaborators involved in the murder of civilians during the Second World War.

"I'm not sure what kind of justice there could ever be for such incredible murders," said Bernie M. Farber, the national director of community relations for the CJC in an interview from Toronto. "Capital punishment might not even be justice enough ... we don't want these people to go to their deaths peacefully."

However, John Gregorovich, head of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said that if a suspected war criminal is deported, rather than be subject to Canadian justice, the potential for punishment is lessened. "They will go back to their village in Eastern Europe amd live on a lucrative pension," he said.

Canada's Justice Minister Allan Rock has identified 12 suspected war criminals living in Canada against whom the federal immigration department denaturalization and deportation proceedings have begun. The Canadian government argues the accused lied about their past when they were admitted to Canada. The ages of the dozen suspects range from 75 to 85.

Mr. Farber said three of the 12 men are "believed" to be of Ukrainian descent. The CJC activist singled out Wassily Bogutin, accused of being involved in the murder of civilians near Donetsk between 1941 and 1943; Vladimir Katriuk, allegedly involved in Nazi atrosities in Belarus; and the most recently named individual, Serge Kisluk, who is alleged to have collaborated with the Nazis as a member of the Ukrainian Auxiliary Police in the Turlysk region.

Mr. Gregorovich said the notion of identifying suspects based on their ethnicity is tenuous. For instance, Johann Dueck, one of the Canadian government's 12 suspects, allegedly served as Mr. Bogutin's superior in the Selidovka district. "He was a German living in Ukraine," said Mr. Gregorovich. "Does that make him Ukrainian?"

Steven Rambam, a private investigator from New York City who has been retained by the CJC and who was recently profiled on a CBS-TV "60 Minutes" episode titled, "Canada's Dark Secret," claims to have found 161 Nazis living in Canada and believes there are even more.

Following a recent visit to Ottawa, Mr. Rambam and officials with the congress unveiled a new strategy to hunt down war criminals. Calling it "1-800-Rat on a Nazi," Mr. Rambam said the congress is even willing to negotiate with suspects in exchange for incriminating evidence against their former colleagues. The move has sparked controversy within Canada's Jewish community.

Winnipeg lawyer David Matas, a spokesperson for B'nai Brith Canada, called the plan "morally repugnant" and "twisted."

The Jewish Civil Rights Educational Foundation of Canada and well-known Nazi hunter Sol Littman, who serves as the Canadian representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, also joined in decrying the congress' strategy.

"What is troubling is whether the Jewish community should serve as a protector and defender of the people who give evidence," Mr. Littman recently told The Toronto Star. But Mr. Farber denied the plan amounts to a witness-protection approach for suspected war criminals, and insisted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police would ultimately decide whether to lay charges against informants.

Bert Raphael of the Jewish Civil Rights Educational Foundation of Canada's recently told The Toronto Star that he "violently" disagrees with the Jewish congress' position. "It's repugnant," said Mr. Raphael, whose group includes 700 lawyers and judges. "If [anyone is] guilty of atrocities, the proper authorities should search them down, charge them and proceed."

Asked to comment the CJC's latest move, Oleh Romaniw, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said: "They are entitled to pursue whatever avenues they feel they should."

Mr. Romaniw, a Winnipeg-based lawyer, told the Weekly, "They have their perspective, other people have their own perspectives. Canada is a free country, and anybody can do whatever they want as long as it's done according to the law."

Mr. Romaniw added that the UCC's position since the 1985 Deschenes Commission on War Criminals remains unchanged. "Anybody suspected of being a war criminal should be tried and, if convicted, punished in Canada," he said.

But Mr. Farber said the Canadian Supreme Court's 1994 decision on the Finta case ended any hopes of a made-in-Canada solution to war criminals. "What the court said, essentially, is that a suspect could use the defense they were only acting according to the orders they received."

Mr. Gregorovich says that's an inaccurate interpretation of the court decision. "That's the position the defense took," the UCCLA chairman explained. "What the court said was that there was insufficient evidence to prove [Imre] Finta's guilt."

Mr. Farber contends the only recourse the federal government has is to send suspected war criminals back to the countries from which they emigrated to stand trial. On this front, Mr. Farber said, the Canadian government has dragged its feet. "They should be ashamed of themselves for harboring war criminals," he said.

Mr. Farber, 45, who was raised in Ottawa by Ukrainian-born Jewish parents said he, hoped the CJC's hunt for war criminals wouldn't hurt his community's relationship with Ukrainian Canadians. "This is not an issue of ethnicity," he said. "There are also people from Latvia and Lithuania on our list. But I think that most members of the Ukrainian community would want nothing less than justice since many of these collaborators murdered their own countrymen."

Mr. Romaniw said the relationship between the UCC and the Canadian Jewish Congress is a good one.

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