United States v. Koziy, 79-6640-Civ.-JCP.

• Decision Date: 29 March 1982
• Docket Number: No. 79-6640-Civ.-JCP.,79-6640-Civ.-JCP.
• Citation: 540 F. Supp. 25
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America v. Bohdan KOZIY, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of Florida

540 F. Supp. 25

UNITED STATES of America v. Bohdan KOZIY, Defendant.

No. 79-6640-Civ.-JCP.

United States District Court, S. D. Florida.

March 29, 1982.

Michael Wolf, Kathleen Coleman, Jovi Tenev, Neal Sher, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for U. S.

Philip Carlton, Jr., Miami, Fla., for defendant.

FINDINGS UNDER RULE 52

PAINE, District Judge.

The United States of America commenced the instant action on November 20, 1979 pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended, 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a), to revoke the United States citizenship of Bohdan Koziy. The defendant was admitted to the United States for permanent residence on December 17, 1949 pursuant to the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. On February 9, 1956, the defendant became a United States citizen when the Supreme Court of New York, at Utica, New York, granted defendant's Petition for Naturalization and issued him a Certificate of Naturalization.

These findings are made pursuant to Rule 52 of the Rules of Civil Procedure after trial of the issues in the cause by the court without a jury. Plaintiff, United States of America was represented by Michael Wolf, Esq., Kathleen Coleman, Esq., Jovi Tenev, Esq. and Neal Sher, Esq. and defendant, Bohdan Koziy was represented by Philip Carlton, Esq. in the trial held in West Palm Beach, Florida which commenced September 15, 1981 and was concluded October 2, 1981. The evidence submitted by the parties and argument of counsel provided by post trial memoranda were considered by the undersigned and resulted in the following findings.

Findings of Fact

1. The region of Stanislau, currently known as Ivano-Franckovsk, was incorporated into the U.S.S.R. in 1939. Prior to that time Stanislau was part of Poland which was invaded by Germany in September 1939. Thereafter, Germany controlled western Poland while the U.S.S.R. controlled eastern Poland which was known as the Ukraine or Galicia.

2. From 1939 until 1941 the Jews who lived in German occupied Poland were moved to ghettos and their property was confiscated.

3. In the summer of 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union. For a short time the Ukrainians believed that they had been liberated from the U.S.S.R. and that the region would become a separate self-governed political entity. This expectation was shortlived since Nazi Germany soon installed its own civil and military administration.

4. At this time there were approximately 500,000 Jews in Galicia. The population of the city of Stanislau prior to World War II was about 50,000 people. Of this number approximately 50 percent were Jewish.

5. About 9 kilometers from the city of Stanislau was the small town of Lisets. In 1941 about 2,000 people inhabited Lisets. There were approximately 20 to 40 Jewish families there giving the town an estimated population of somewhere between 160 to 200 Jews.

6. By the middle of 1941 German policy changed from one requiring the emigration of all Jews to seeking their complete annihilation.¹ The latter was euphemistically referred to as the "final solution."

7. Plaintiff's exhibit 10 provided documentary evidence of this policy. This exhibit in German is known as the Oberfeld-kommandantur 365, which is a monthly report for August 16 through September 15, 1942. It states that by December 31, 1942 all Jews of the Galicia District should be settled out. Professor Raul Hilberg testified that the words "murder," "killing," "genocide," etc. never appeared in German documents. Other words such as "final solution" or "resettled" were used in their place.

8. Plaintiff's exhibits four and five establish that the Germans utilized local citizens in the occupied territories to assist the German police units. Plaintiff's exhibit four is a letter attributed to Heinrich Himmler and dated July 25, 1941. In the letter it states that it is necessary that additional protection units be established expeditiously from the ethnic groups of the conquered territories. Included in the complement of these protection units would be Ukrainians. The letter goes on to indicate some of the logistical details of utilizing indigenous population as part of the security police.

9. Plaintiff's exhibit five is an order from Daluege dated November 6, 1942². This document goes into some detail as to the composition of the various protective forces and manner of assigning individuals to these forces and the maintenance and compensation for those individuals within the forces. It is noted that this document includes a provision that the members of these self-contained units receive free health care within the scope of the health care provisions applicable for the Reich police.

10. In the German occupied areas a number of prohibitions and proscriptions were placed upon Jewish residents. For example, all Jewish residents were required to wear arm bands containing the Star of David. Further, their property was forfeited and when walking they were required to use the street as opposed to sidewalks. Such rules were enforced by the indigenous police who, in Galicia, were manned by Ukrainians.

11. Within two months of the German occupation of Poland the German efforts to exterminate the Jews were brought to Galicia. In August of 1941 Rabbis in the city of Stanislau were shot.

12. On October 12, 1941 an estimated 8,000 to 12,000 Jews were murdered on the outskirts of Stanislau by the Germans and their collaborators.

13. Ghettos for the containment of Jews were established in Galicia by the end of 1941. Efforts were made to transport Jews to the nearest ghetto.

14. In Stanislau a ghetto was formed approximately two weeks after the previously described October 12 action. The Jews were kept in the ghetto involuntarily. They were guarded by Jews inside the ghettos and outside by Germans and Ukrainian police. Food was rationed and only the minimal quantities were available. Many died of starvation and disease.

15. In addition to the killings carried out in Stanislau, the Germans also deported thousands of Jewish residents of the city to mass extermination camps. Belzec was the death camp nearest to Stanislau, being a few hours away by train. Approximately 500,000 people were executed there.

16. Between the fall of 1941 and spring of 1942 Jews who resided in the area surrounding Stanislau were brought to live in the ghetto. These included Jews who lived in the town of Lisets. In 1942 there were a number of actions in the Stanislau region which resulted in heavy Jewish casualties. According to Professor Hilberg's calculations in March of 1942, 2,000 were shot, in April, 3,000, in June, 1,000 and in August 2,500 were shot.

17. The Galician "deportation" was concluded by the spring of 1943. According to plaintiff's exhibit number eleven, the Katzmann report of June 30, 1943, 434,329 Jews had been "evacuated." The report also details confiscations of Jewish property which occurred over the previous few months. The Katzmann report, titled as the final report of solution of the Jewish question in the district of Galicia, details and specifies the horrors, atrocities and barbarism which was carried out by the Germans and their cohorts in their quest to exterminate the Jews in Galicia.³

18. The Stanislau ghetto was closed in June 1943. Thirteen months later the Soviets controlled the territory.

19. The Ukrainians were often friendly to the Germans as evidenced by plaintiff's Exhibit number nine which is the Oberfeld-kommandantur 365 for 16 November through 15 December 1941. Thus the Germans were able to use their own as well as indigenous police to guard the ghettos. Indigenous police had most of the functions of the German police.

20. In Galicia Ukrainian police assisted in transportation of Jews from their homes to the ghettos. They also participated with German police in security sweeps and in roundups for taking the Jews to Belzec.

21. Ukrainian police made significant contributions to roundups. They made up 50 percent of the police complement in Galicia. While Ukrainian police may have independently killed five to twenty Jews at a time, they would not engage in large scale mass murder unless done so by German order.⁴ In Stanislau Ukrainian police made arrests inside the ghetto. At times they were with Germans and at other times they were on their own.⁵

22. Recruits for indigenous police had to be anti-communist and physically fit. Ukrainian police served the Germans voluntarily.

23. The defendant was born on February 23, 1923 in the town of Pukasiwci which was located in the Stanislau region of Galicia. His given name was Bogdanus Kosij. He changed his name to Bohdan Koziy when he was naturalized as a United States citizen.

24. In the years 1936 through 1939 the defendant attended a Ukrainian private school located in Yavorew. He then attended trade school in Stanislau, starting in 1939. He took agriculture and tailoring courses for the next four to five months. The school was Russian controlled. Vacations were taken at Pukasiwci. He quit school in early 1940.

25. In 1939 the defendant began his participation in the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists or OUN. He joined the Bandera faction which was named for its leader, Stephan Bandera. According to the defendant, the OUN succeeded the Ukrainian military organization or UWO. UWO members tended to be much older than the defendant's contemporaries.⁶

26. At the trial, defendant categorized himself as an OUN sympathizer, not as a member. However, he admits that he was involved. Other statements made by the defendant do not support his position that he was merely a sympathizer. For instance, his statement given to an INS interviewer on October 6, 1977 indicated that he was in the OUN organization, not that he was merely a sympathizer. In fact, he said he joined in 1939 and that the purpose of the movement was to fight the Russians. (Plaintiff's Exhibit 1-M). At the time the defendant was avowedly anti-communist. He testified that he never had...