Accused Nazi camp guard tells U.S. court his service was involuntary
PHILADELPHIA, July 18 (Reuters) - An 89-year-old man wanted in Germany for working as a concentration camp guard during World War II said in court filings on Friday that he should not be deported because his service in the Waffen SS was involuntary.
“What can be said with certainty is that Mr. Breyer is not a war criminal,” lawyers for Johann Breyer said in documents in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.
The legal papers were filed ahead of a July 24 court hearing to determine if Breyer, a retired tool-and-die maker who emigrated to Philadelphia in 1952, should be extradited to Germany.