Accused Nazi guard no-show at hearing; judge orders him deported

A federal immigration judge on Tuesday ordered the deportation of an 85-year-old German citizen who authorities said served as a Nazi concentration camp guard.

The order came after Paul Henss, who lives in Georgia, failed to show up for a deportation hearing. Authorities maintain that Henss trained and handled attack dogs at the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps and that he aided in the Nazi persecution of Jews _ a crime punishable by deportation under U.S. immigration law.

Federal immigration authorities said they were told by Henss' daughter, who lives in the Atlanta area, that her father fled the U.S. for Germany. Authorities said the Department of Homeland Security confirmed he left on Friday.

The Department of Justice announced the action against Henss on Oct. 1.

U.S. Immigration Judge J. Dan Pelletier ordered Henss removed from the country after a 30-minute hearing conducted without Henss or an attorney on his behalf present, as is allowed by law. Henss had been served with a notice to appear for Tuesday afternoon's proceeding.

Henss has no right to appeal the decision.

Telephone records list only one number in Henss' daughter's name in Gwinnett County. A man who answered at the number Tuesday said, "I don't know where he is," when asked about Henss whereabouts, and then hung up.

Henss entered the Waffen SS in 1941 and volunteered the following year to become an SS dog handler, serving from 1942 to 1944 at the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps, according to immigration court documents.

There, Henss instructed other guards in the use of trained attack dogs to guard prisoners and prevent their escape, and personally guarded prisoners and forced-labor details to prevent escapes, authorities allege.

SS regulations during Henss' time of service said dogs were to be trained "to 'bite without mercy' and to literally tear prisoners to pieces if they attempted to escape," the document states.

Henss admitted in a sworn statement March 13 that he served as an SS guard at Dachau and Buchenwald for two to three months each as a dog handler, according to the charging document.

When questioned by reporters at his home last month, Henss acknowledged training dogs, but said he fought in Russia and never set foot inside Dachau or Buchenwald.

"The training of dogs was no crime," Henss said with his wife sobbing next to him outside their well-kept one-story brick house. "I was not training them to hurt people."

Henss said that when he came to the U.S. 33 years ago, he did not tell immigration officials about his military service in Germany and was not asked. He said he had lived in Georgia for 10 years.

The deportation case was filed after a review of German records, prosecutors said. Jaclyn Lesch, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said the government does not plan to file criminal charges against Henss.

The Office of Special Investigations, which handles cases against people accused of being former Nazis, began operations in 1979. Authorities said it has won cases against 106 participants in Nazi crimes.