Federal Court Revokes Citizenship Of Pittsburgh-Area Man Who Served As Nazi Concentration Camp Guard

To: National Desk

Contact: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public
Affairs, 202-514-2008 or http://www.usdoj.gov

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The U.S.
District Court in Pittsburgh today revoked the U.S.
citizenship of Anton Geiser of Sharon, Pa., because of
his participation in Nazi-sponsored acts of
persecution while serving during World War II as an
armed SS guard at Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp and
other places of persecution, Assistant Attorney
General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and
U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan of the Western
District of Pennsylvania announced today.

Geiser admitted under oath that he served during most
of 1943 as an armed SS guard at the Sachsenhausen
Concentration Camp near Berlin, Germany; that his
duties included escorting prisoners to slave labor
sites and standing guard in the camp's guard towers;
and that he was under standing orders to shoot any
prisoner attempting escape. He also admitted serving
as a guard at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp and
its Arolsen subcamp. Prisoners held at Sachsenhausen
and Buchenwald were forced to engage in hard physical
labor under extraordinarily brutal conditions. Many
prisoners died from exhaustion or disease. Many were
shot or hanged. During the period when Geiser served
at Sachsenhausen, more 3,000 prisoners were murdered
or died from the brutal treatment.

"Anton Geiser's service as an armed SS guard at
several Nazi concentration camps helped to ensure that
thousands of men and women held prisoner could not
escape the brutal conditions of their confinement,"
said Assistant Attorney General Fisher. "The court's
ruling today confirms that the United States is not
and never will be a haven for those who participated
in Nazi genocide."

Geiser, 81, immigrated to the United States from
Austria in October 1956, and was naturalized as a U.S.
citizen in March 1962. The district court found that
he was not eligible for citizenship because his
service to Nazi Germany made him ineligible to
immigrate to the United States. Geiser's service as an
armed SS guard, the court concluded, "clearly assisted
in the persecution of the prisoners" held by the Nazis
at Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald and Arolsen.

"By standing guard with a loaded weapon under orders
to shoot, Anton Geiser helped to ensure that thousands
of innocent men and women were forced to endure slave
labor, medical experiments, malnourishment and
murder," said Eli M. Rosenbaum, Director of the
Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations
(OSI), which investigated the case. "Such individuals
do not deserve the privilege of living in the United
States. The Government will work to remove Geiser from
this country as swiftly as possible."

U.S. Attorney Buchanan stated: "Individuals like Anton
Geiser, who assisted the Nazis in their quest to
extinguish the lives of millions of innocent men,
women and children, do not deserve the benefits of
U.S. citizenship."

The proceedings to denaturalize Geiser were instituted
in 2004 by OSI and the U.S. Attorney's Office in
Pittsburgh. The case is a result of OSI's ongoing
efforts to identify, investigate and take legal action
against former participants in Nazi persecution who
reside in the United States. Since OSI began
operations in 1979, it has won cases against 103
individuals who assisted in Nazi persecution. In
addition, more than 175 individuals who sought to
enter the United States in recent years have been
blocked from doing so as a result of OSI's "Watchlist"
program, which is enforced in cooperation with the
Department of Homeland Security.

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