OBITUARIES: Serge Kisluk, veteran of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (08/19/01)

OBITUARIES

Serge Kisluk, veteran of Ukrainian Insurgent Army

ST. CATHERINE'S, Ontario - Serge Kisluk, a former member of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), passed away on May 21 at the age of 78, succumbing to cancer amidst deportation proceedings by the Canadian government, according to an article by Peter Cheney published recently in The Globe and Mail. Accused of war crimes and collaborating with the Nazis, Mr. Kisluk, composed a final statement steadfastly maintaining his innocence.

In that statement, Mr. Kisluk wrote: "I accuse my persecutors of a crime against an innocent man and my innocent wife. These persecutors have killed me as surely as if they had drawn out a pistol and shot me in the heart."

Born in Ukraine in 1922, Mr. Kisluk fought in the ranks of the UPA during World War II against both the Nazi and Soviet armies. Then, in 1948, as his statement further explains, he moved to Canada to start a new life under the rule of democratic principles. He managed a corner store in Niagara Falls and later served as a machine operator at a GM parts plant in St. Catherine's, Ontario. For nearly 50 years after moving to Canada, no allegations were leveled against Mr. Kisluk.

But in 1984 a false rumor spread that Josef Mengele, a high-profile Nazi war criminal, had been found hiding in Canada. The Mengele story led to the establishment of a federal commission of inquiry and a special war crimes unit of the Justice Department. It proved difficult to secure a conviction in a case dealing with events that occurred 50 years in the past, so the Canadian government started pursuing suspected war criminals under the Immigration Act. By pursuing only revocation of citizenship and deportation, rather than criminal punishment, the burden of proof became significantly lower.

The Canadian government's Citizenship and Immigration Department decided that Mr. Kisluk had lied to Canadian authorities when he entered Canada, not disclosing his status as a Nazi collaborator or his alleged role in the beating of a Jewish man and the murder of a Jewish woman. As a result, Citizenship and Immigration Canada revoked his citizenship and decided that he would be deported.

Mr. Kisluk, in his written statement, contended, "I cannot change the fact that a Canadian official, nearly half a century ago, never asked me the questions which I have since learned he was supposed to ask. I would not have lied then. I was not a collaborator. I was a freedom fighter."

Denying that he was ever a Nazi collaborator, Mr. Kisluk provided an example of his wartime activities: "I was a member of the UPA North (Bohun) Group that in 1943 rescued more than 200 children who were being shipped near Kovel in boxcars for slave labor to the Third Reich."

In an effort to prove his innocence, Mr. Kisluk procured sworn testimony from some of the witnesses against him, in which they admit that they lied under oath in order to avoid torture in the 1940s. Notwithstanding this new evidence, at the time of his death, Mr. Kisluk was still awaiting deportation, pending a determination by the Immigration and Refugee Board.

The investigation and subsequent decision to deport Mr. Kisluk have left many with doubts about the fairness of the Canadian government's proceedings in the case.

Marsha Skrypuch, an author who had interviewed Mr. Kisluk, commented, according to the article by Mr. Cheney: "These are 50-year old cases, and the evidence won't stand up in court, so they use the immigration rules instead. The reality is that there just isn't enough evidence. Innocent people get hurt. You end up with a bunch of little old men trying to defend themselves against the state."

The text of Mr. Kisluk's statement of his innocence, written on January 26, may be read at http://www.infoukes.co/uccla/issues/warcrimes/i_wrcrms_069.html. The statement was posted on that site on June 4.

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