jUP FRONT
OSI Rejects
Quintis Claims
Of Innocence
Ex-Butcher
To Be Jailed
Until Trial
ELIZABETH KAPLAN
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
C
laims by Washington, Mich.,
resident Peter Quintis that he
had nothing to do with
atrocities committed while he work-
ed at the Majdanek death camp, and
that he had to serve as a guard or be
shot, are completely false, U.S. Justice
Department officials said this week.
David Griem, Quintis' lawyer,
said that his client never participated
in atrocities at Majdanek and that he
_ regrets having worked at the death
camp, but that he did so to save his
own life.
Bruce Einhorn, deputy director
for litigation of war criminals for the
Justice Department's Office of Special
Investigation (OSI), countered that,
"Majdanek was not a jail and the
guards there were not police who help
protect the community. It was a place
of terror where guards were the im-
plementation of persecution."
Einhorn called Griem's defense of
Quintis familiar, and said it is one the
Justice Department has always re-
jected. "I'm really suprised I • keep
hearing it," he said.
Last month, the Justice Depart-
ment stripped the 71-year-old Quin-
tis of his U.S. citizenship after
discovering he lied, when applying for
naturalization, about his involvement
in Nazi atrocities. Quintis became an
American citizen in 1965.
The Justice Department did not
order Quintis' deportation, however,
because he suffers from a life-
threatening heart condition that
0
Sam Ward, building superintendent at Temple Israel, checks leaks on the temple's walls. Last
month, a settlement was reached between the temple and its architects and builders to
correct the problems.
makes it difficult for him to be mov-
ed, Einhorn said. Unless his health
improves, Quintis will be allowed to
live the rest of his life in the United
States.
Allowing Quintis to remain here
was part of a settlement signed by
Quintis and the Justice Department.
In that agreement, Quintis admitted
to having served at Majdanek and
waived his right to make appeals in
the case.
It is this document, not Griem's
recent comments, that best speaks to
the issue of Quintis' guilt, Einhorn
said.
The OSI filed a complaint against
Quintis, a native of Yugoslavia, in
March of last year. It charged him
with serving as a member of the SS
Death Head's Batallion and as a
guard at Majdanek.
ak Park kosher butcher
Rabbi David K. Nerenberg
— who is suing Sinai
Hospital over a kosher meat contract
— was ordered held without bond late
Tuesday in Wayne County Jail on
charges of extortion and harrassment
of federal witnesses.
Rabbi Nerenberg, 33, who is not
affiliated with a congregation, was in-
dicted last week for allegedly conduc-
ting several acts of intimidation bet-
ween October 1986 and last month.
The federal indictment also nam-
ed 25-year-old David Cohen of Oak
Park for allegedly conspiring with
Rabbi Nerenberg to extort a settle-
ment from the hospital. The lawsuit
is pending.
Cohen also is being detained in
Wayne County Jail. A federal
magistrate was expected to complete
his arraignment on Thursday or
Friday.
Federal defender Sandy Plotkin,
Rabbi Nerenberg's court-appointed
attorney, said he will appeal the
detention order. Plotkin said the rab-
bi is not a danger to the community.
The case is expected to go to trial
within the next two months, P _ lotkin
said.
Among the allegations in the
eight-count indictment, Rabbi
Nerenberg and Cohen are charged
with making harrassing phone calls
to the hospital's kosher caterer, Max
Luss, owner of Superior Kosher Meat
Quintis joined the Waffen SS in
1942 and worked as a guard at Ma-
jdanek until 1944. The death camp,
located just outside Lublin, Poland,
was established in 1941. About
125,000 Jews were killed at Ma-
jdanek; of those, 18,000 were shot to
death on Nov. 3, 1943, in retaliation
for the Jewish uprising at Sobibor.
Einhorn said the Justice Depart-
ment has never lost a denaturaliza-
tion case against a former SS death
camp guard. Nineteen Nazi guards
have been discovered in the United
States, all of whom have either fled
the country, been deported or, as in
the Quintis case, agreed to be strip-
ped of citizenship.
Among those war criminals
discovered in the United States who
were deported are Feodor Fedorenko,
Continued on Page 18
Continued on Page 17
ROUND UP
Suit Filed
Over Hostel
Jerusalem (JTA) — The
United Synagogue of
America has filed suit in
Israel's Supreme Court for
restoration of the kashrut cer-
tificate that was withdrawn
last month from a youth
hostel affiliated with the Con-
servative movement.
The hostel had been
operating in Jerusalem for 16
years under local kashrut
supervision. No complaint
was ever lodged that it
violated the dietary laws, and
according to Conservative
leaders, the withdrawal was
an arbitrary and political act.
Rabbi Yehoshua Pollack,
vice chairman of the Or-
thodox Religious Council, was
quoted by the Jerusalem Post
as saying that "the hostel is
affiliated with a movement
that undermines Judaism;'
that "in our eyes destroys the
Jewish religion?'
Doctors Return
To Work
ml Aviv (JTA) — Doctors at
government and municipal
hospitals resumed their nor-
mal work schedules Tuesday
morning, ending — at least
for the moment — seven
months of strikes and sanc-
tions that have crippled
public health services in
Israel.
The doctors announced
their return at midnight,
after the Health and Finance
ministries
agreed
to
negotiate the disputed issues
without preconditions.
But the health care crisis is
far from over. The nurses'
union and doctors employed
by Histadrut's health in-
surance agency, Kupat Holim,
remain embroiled in bitter
labor disputes and are cur-
tailing their services.
Embezzlement
Inquiry Grows
Bonn (JTA) — The late
Werner Nachmann appears to
have embezzled more money
than originally estimated
from government funds set
aside to pay compensation to
Jews persecuted during the
Nazi era.
Nachman, who was chair-
man of the Central Council of
'Jews in West Germany until
his sudden death in January,
had access to the government
funds entrusted to the Cen-
tral Council for
disbursement.
He apparently misap-
propriated some 33 million
marks ($18 million) of in-
terest earned on the 400
million mark hardship
reparations fund established
by the Finance Ministry in
Bonn.
But investigators are focus-
ing now on 5 million marks
($2.7 million) that disap-
peared from a 40 million
mark government allowance
to the Central Council.
Both funds were controlled
by Nachmann. He and Alex-
ander Ginsberg, former
secretary of the Central
Council, were the only Jewish
community officers who had
access to both bank acocunts.
Ginsberg, who denies per-
sonal wrongdoing or
knowledge of Nachmann's
alleged malfeasance, was
dismissed from his job last
month.
Abram's Term
Is Extended
New York (JTA) — Morris
Abram will . serve an addi-
tional six months as chair-
man of the Conference of
Presidents of Major American
Jewish Organizations, as a
result of a recent decision to
have the term of office corms-
pond to the calendar year.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
5