Toronto (February 8, 2018) –Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) supports the Canadian government asit persistently seeks to revoke the Canadian citizenship of Helmut Oberlander –a former member of a Nazi death squad who is on Simon Wiesenthal Center’s listof most wanted Nazi criminals. 

"I find it outrageous that,according to Waterloo Region Record, a past German Canadian Congress president would assert that hedoesn’t want his ‘money spent in a frivolous way’ and that it’s ‘unfair what they are doing to Mr. Oberlander,’” said FSWC President and CEO Avi Benlolo. "War crimeprosecutions are continuing despite age. In fact, despite the fact he is96, Germany refused leniency for Oskar Groening after finding him guilty ofbeing an accessory to the murder of 300,000 people at Auschwitz.” 

According to reports, in 2000 acourt found that Oberlander withheld the fact that he was a member of a Nazideath squad before immigrating to Canada in 1954. 

The Canadian government hasallegedly revoked Oberlander’s citizenship four times over the last 23 years,but was defeated by Oberlander in court three times. Oberlander is scheduled tobe back in court this year to argue the government’s decision made last June tohave his citizenship revoked for a fourth time.

Media Contact:

Avital Borisovsky  
Communications Associate  
416.864.9735 x 29  
aborisovsky@fswc.ca

Follow us on Twitter at @CanadianFSWC 

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Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies (FSWC) is a top Jewish human rights foundation in Canada's organized Jewish community. It directly impacts over 100,000 people each year and 500,000+ peripherally. FSWC is committed to countering racism and antisemitism and to promoting the principles of tolerance, social justice and Canadian democratic values through advocacy and educational programs including workshops, Freedom Day, Spirit of Hope Benefit, Tools for Tolerance and the widely acclaimed Tour for Humanity. FSWC is affiliated with the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights organization headquartered in Los Angeles which has won two Academy Awards, has built two Museums of Tolerance (with a third being built in Jerusalem) and is an NGO at the United Nations, UNESCO, OAS, OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament. Visit us at www.fswc.ca. 

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