World
October 4, 2024 15:50
united states - A former guard of a Nazi concentration camp managed to hide in the United States for almost thirty years, as revealed in a new book.
A former guard of a Nazi concentration camp managed to hide in the United States for almost thirty years, as revealed in a new book. The man was known as an exemplary employee and for his friendly deeds.
On October 26, 1957, twelve years after the end of World War II, Reinhold Kulle and his family boarded a ship in the German city of Cuxhaven bound for the US. They were seeking a fresh start, as noted by Michael Soffer in his recently released book 'Our Nazi: an American suburb’s encounter with evil'.
The author, a social studies teacher at a school in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago, recounts how Kulle worked as a janitor at the same school for nearly thirty years. He quickly became an integral part of the school and the go-to person for all faculty members, being familiar with every corner of the building, according to Soffer.
He was praised as a dedicated employee who kept the school premises spotless. Even the locals viewed him as a kind man and a devoted grandfather always ready to help others. When he was deported back to Germany in 1984, a grand farewell party was organized for him.
What his American neighbors, friends, and colleagues were unaware of all this time was that the janitor harbored a dark past. Born in 1921, Kulle joined the Hitler Youth in his youth and later volunteered for the Waffen-SS, the armed wing of Nazi Germany’s paramilitary organization.
After being injured on the Eastern Front, he was transferred to the Gross-Rosen Nazi concentration camp (now Rogoźnica, Poland), where around 40,000 Jews were killed during World War II. Soffer reveals that Kulle was stationed on the camp's perimeter with orders to shoot anyone attempting to escape.
Following the war, Kulle returned to civilian life. When the US Congress passed the Displaced Persons Act in 1948, he saw an opportunity for a fresh start in the US. Along with his wife Gertrud and their children Ulricke and Rainer, they applied for relocation, falsely denying his Nazi past.
The American official in charge, as noted by Soffer, was impressed by his handsome face and beautiful wife, declaring it difficult to find a better candidate for immigration to the US. The family was expected to assimilate seamlessly.
In the summer of 1981, Reinhold Kulle became the subject of investigations into alleged Nazis by the Office of Special Investigations. By the following year, enough incriminating evidence, such as his SS records and photos in Nazi uniform, had been gathered to initiate deportation proceedings.
Kulle appealed the decision, but after a lengthy legal battle, he was ordered to leave the country by the end of 1984. Three years later, he was put on a plane bound for Germany. Despite this, he continued to receive a pension and lived freely until his death in 2006.