Former Nazi death-squad member Helmut Oberlander dead at 97

Former Nazi death-squad member Helmut Oberlander has died in the midst of a decadeslong deportation battle with the federal government, prompting Jewish rights organizations to express frustration that his legal saga never reached completion.

Oberlander’s family said Thursday that the 97-year-old died peacefully while surrounded by loved ones.

The federal government had stripped Oberlander of his citizenship several times - revocations he repeatedly fought in court. Earlier this month, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada began a hearing on whether he could remain in the country or be returned to Germany.

His lawyer sought a stay in those proceedings, partially due to Oberlander’s declining physical and mental health.

Michael Levitt, president of the Canadian Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies, said there was a “great sadness justice was never done.”

He said it’s time to close the chapter on Oberlander and remember victims of the Holocaust instead. Levitt, a former Liberal member of parliament, also said it was time to reflect on the failures of the case.

“Moving forward we should be much stronger and we should commit to making sure that our justice system can better deal with war criminals in Canada,” he said.

B’nai Brith Canada said it was frustrated with Canada’s failure to deport Oberlander.

“The peaceful demise of Helmut Oberlander on Canadian soil is a stain on our national conscience,” said Michael Mostyn, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, in a statement.

“The fact is that this country slammed its doors on Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis, then allowed some of their tormentors into Canada and failed to deport them.”

The office of Immigration Minister Marco Mendocino did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Oberlander - who had been living in Waterloo, Ont. - served from 1941 to 1943 as an interpreter with the Ek 10a unit, which was part of a larger group of death squads responsible for killing more than two million people, most of them Jews.

He said he was conscripted into duty as a teenager on threat of death and that he never participated in any killings.

Oberlander arrived in Canada in 1954 and became a Canadian citizen six years later, but he did not disclose his wartime experience when entering the country or on his citizenship application.

In June 2017, the federal government revoked Oberlander’s Canadian citizenship for the fourth time since the mid-1990s.

The government maintained Oberlander was complicit in war crimes by belonging to the death squad.