c
LOST page 1
NAZI NEIGHBOR page 1
)-0
4o.
taANV:A i.
Attorney William Bufalino and Ferdinand Hammer.
-n
rl
"I told them I was in the SS
when I apply for a visa," he said
in an interview at his home.
"Why didn't (the government) tell
me that I was in the SS and can't
come?
"Why 50 years after the war is
over? I have a good family. I have
children, grandchildren, a lot of
good neighbors," he said. "I am
an honest guy. I am a hard work-
er. I never been in trouble."
The government said it has ev-
idence that Mr. Hammer was
miles from the Soviet front in late
1_944 and early 1945. Information
gathered from various sources
place Mr. Hammer as a guard at
Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and
Flossenberg and on an inmate
transport to Mauthausen.
The government alleges that
he served not as a part of the Ger-
man army, but rather as a mem-
ber of Death's Head Battalion, a
division of the Waffen-SS. The
Waffen-SS, literally meaning
"armed SS," fell under the direc-
tion of Schutzstaffel, the intelli-
gence and guard unit of the Nazi
Party of Germany.
The complaint further says
that Mr. Hammer later told
American consulate officials in
Salzburg that he served from
1942 to 1945 in the German army
as opposed to the SS. But on a pe-
tition for citizenship filed in 1963,
he claimed to be a part of the
"German Army SS," an entity the
government says never existed.
Mr. Hammer's attorney,
William Bufalino, said his client
was first questioned by the De-
partment of Justice eight years
ago. He heard nothing more
about an inquiry until the law-
suit was served Dec. 13.
Mr. Bufalino said he plans to
uphold his client's assertion that
he served in the "Germany Army
SS."
As to the person who served in
the death and concentration
camps, Mr. Bufalino also plans
to show that it was a different
Ferdinand Hammer, not his
client. He asserts that seven
Hammer ,families lived in the
same area as his client prior to
the war, and one of them may
have served as a camp guard.
"Our argument is that they
have the wrong man," he said.
Mr. Hammer has 50 more
days to answer the government's
complaint but the case could con-
tinue for years in the courts. Mr.
Hammer plans to countersue the
government for defamation.
The SS was never a
part of the German
army, but rather a
unit of the Nazi Party.
In the meantime, Mr. Ham-
mer's neighbors on DeGrow
Street in Sterling Heights offer
their support to him and his fam-
ily. Some don't care what he did
in the past.
Joseph and Angela D'Anna
said Mr. Hammer was a good
man who came to visit Mrs.
D'Anna after a recent surgery,
bearing a pot of soup his wife had
prepared.
During the summer months,
Mr. Hammer hauled his lawn
mower across the street to help
with the outdoor chores.
"He's a nice man, a good neigh-
bor," Mr. D'Anna said. 'That was
a long time ago. Maybe he was
just young."
Jerry Cantini, a relative of the
D'Annas, said he feels better that
the D'Annas live across from a
man like Ferdinand Hammer.
"Neighbors like that are spe-
cial," Mr. Cantini said. This guy
is very helpful." ❑
Perhaps there's something named O'Dell," Mr. Rosenbaum
Mr. Reimer was neglecting, he recalled. "I remember thinking,
suggested. There was one man `This can't be it — some guy
in that ravine, something about from Ireland?'
It was not some guy from Ire-
him Mr. Reimer had forgotten
land. It was Mr. Odelis, who had
to tell.
conveniently changed his name.
"Yes," Mr. Reimer replied.
Mr. Rosenbaum said the
"You finished him off," Mr.
number of possible matches
Rosenbaum said
"varies from month to month,
"I'm afraid so."
Hunting Nazis is a curious though it is many dozens in a
business. It means dealing with year."
Between 30 and 40 percent of
facts intricate and obscure —
birth dates and codes, a name those that do match are men
with a familiar ring (OSI inves- who managed to escape justice:
tigators found a Nazi named they already are dead. But if
Odelis living as Mr. O'Dell). It they are alive and either resid-
means unearthing history by ing in the United States or are
searching files and records and American citizens living abroad,
registries from decades ago. It "the investigation begins in
means dealing with well-inten- earnest."
One historian and one attor-
tioned but incompetent foreign
governments and looking over ney are assigned to the case.
laundry lists. (Immedi
ately after the war the
Nazis had been quick to
destroy the names of of-
ficials at a certain death
camp. But they forgot
the laundry lists, nam-
ing all SS there.)
The OSI was found-
ed in 1979. Initially, the
majority of its work
originated in tips from
foreign governments,
especially the Soviets,
who had many records
left over from the Nazi
regimes in eastern Eu-
rope. It was valuable
material, but hardly the
complete story.
The Soviets, who lost
literally millions of citi-
zens and soldiers dur-
ing World War II, were
eager to see the Nazis
prosecuted. Yet they al-
ways insisted research
was done on their
terms: they forwarded
only information their Ell Rosenbaum
workers — who did not
read German — could
When the historian is satisfied
find.
In recent years, however, the he has his man, the U.S. gov-
OSI has taken complete control ernment moves in.
Typical information used to
of its own research. "Very near-
ly all our cases are the result of convict Nazis includes an SS
our own comprehensive work," identification card, assignment
others and an SS personnel ros-
Mr. Rosenbaum said.
OSI historians are fluent in ter. Sometimes, there is even di-
German, and often in other lan- rect proof of a capital crime.
Take the case of Stefan Leili
guages as well. They spend their
days researching any material of New Jersey.
— from a roster of Einzats-
gruppen (a Nazi murder group)
to a list of police units — that
could provide the names of for-
mer Nazis.
These names are then
matched against those of im-
migrants to the United States.
OSI officials knew Mr. Leili
It's a complex and sophisticat-
ed process that checks for was a guard at Mauthausen, a
spelling variations, shortening concentration camp established
of names and anything that in 1938 in Austria.
Mr. Leili insisted he was in-
even sounds like a possibility.
"Once we were looking for nocent. He hadn't even been at
someone named Odelis, and Mauthausen, he said.
Then OSI officials noted that
they came back with somebody
The OSI has on staff
seven historians
and 12 attorneys.
Mr. Leili's name appeared on
a roster of prison guards at
Mauthausen.
All right, Mr. Leili conceded:
he had been an Mauthausen,
but he was certain no one there
had been hurt.
So OSI officials brought out
a giant log, kept by Nazi officials
and filled with hand-written en-
tries of "unnatural deaths" at
Mauthausen.
A "natural" death, in SS vo-
cabulary, resulted from disease,
overwork, starvation.
An "unnatural" death was
murder.
So maybe some people there
had been shot, Mr. Leili said.
But certainly he himself had not
killed anyone.
At the far right on the list,
though, was the name of the SS
officer responsible for
each "unnatural" death.
Among the murderers
listed — his victim was
a young French Jew—
was Stefan Leili.
Mr. Rosenbaum, a
Harvard law school
graduate, joined the
OSI in 1980 and has
been involved in some
of the agency's most fa-
mous investigations,
including that of Kurt
Waldheim. Mr. Rosen-
baum is the author of
Betrayal, which chron-
icles the case.
Today, the OSI op-
erates on a $3.5 million
annual budget and has
33 on staff, including
seven historians and
12 attorneys.
When the agency
was established, no
one thought it would
need long to complete
its work. But the OSI
has seen a real boost in
recent years with the
fall of the Soviet Union.
The country's collapse opened
countless archives that previ-
ously had been available only to
Soviet researchers.
T ast week alone, the OSI filed
three cases, including that of
.Ferdinand Hammer of Sterling
Heights.
To date, the OSI has denatu-
ralized or removed from the
United States former concen-
tration and death camp SS per-
sonnel, members of
Nazi-sponsored auxiliary police
units that participated in mass
executions or in units that sup-
ported the Nazi persecution pro-
gram, former propagandists,
local administrators involved in
persecution, a guard at a
Gestapo "labor education camp,"
a kapo (prisoner-guard), an ad-
ministrator at a factory using
slave labor, an aide to Adolph
Eichmann, a minister of Croat-
ia and a trainer with an SS unit
in Poland.
❑