An 89-year-old Pennsylvania man is wanted by Germany for charges of helping to slay 216,000 Jews during World War II.
Johann Breyer, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1952, was arrested Tuesday at his home. He is believed to have joined the Waffen SS at age 17 and assisted in the killing of Jews at the Auschwitz and Buchenwald Nazi concentration camps, Reuters reported Friday.
Germany has issued a warrant for his arrest, U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Rice said at Breyer’s court appearance in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, Business Insider reported Friday. Mr. Breyer’s lawyers assert that the elderly suspect should not be held in a federal detention while his case is being decided.
“I didn’t kill anybody, I didn’t rape anybody — and I don’t even have a traffic ticket here. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Mr. Breyer told the Associated Press in 2012, Business Insider reported.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that new evidence bolsters Germany’s case against Mr. Breyer. Records indicate that Mr. Breyer worked at a sub-camp where Jews were killed known as Birkenau. Evidence also appears to show that he was at Auschwitz earlier than he previously admitted.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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