Ex-West Linn man tied to Belgrade wartime Nazi death squad

By Paul Haist

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Media reports from Belgrade say that the Serbian government will seek the extradition of a former West Linn man now living in Bellingham, Wash., who has admitted serving in a Nazi unit that murdered several thousand Serbian civilians during World War II.

Peter Egner, 86, was charged last month in a complaint filed by the U.S. District Court in Seattle of violating U.S. immigration law by misrepresenting his military service during World War II.

In the federal complaint Egner is identified as having served in the Security Police and Security Service of the Nazi SS and Police in German-occupied Belgrade, Serbia (then Yugoslavia), from about April 28, 1941, until he was wounded on
or about Sept. 29, 1943.

The complaint states, “During the period of the defendant’s service, the Belgrade-based SPSS participated in the mass murder of more than 17,000 Serbian civilians, most of whom were killed solely because they were Jews, Gypsies and/or were considered politically suspect by German occupation authorities.”

According to the complaint, in the first nine months of Egner’s service his unit operated as the Belgrade Einsatzgruppen, a mobile unit of the German extermination program that herded individuals into vans that were then sealed and pumped full of engine exhaust leading to death by asphyxiation of those confined in the van.

The complaint goes on to say that Egner’s group “played a leading role in the Nazi’s mass murder of 6,280 Jewish women and children, all of whom were inmates at Semlin concentration camp under SPSS control near Belgrade.”

In a February 2007 interview with federal authorities Egner admitted that he “guarded prisoners as they were being transferred to Avala (the site of burial pits) and also guarded prisoners as they were being transferred to Semlin.”

During the same interview Egner also said that he “participated as an interpreter in interrogations of political prisoners,” in the words of the complaint, which also noted SPSS interrogations “sometimes involved severe torture, often followed by execution.”

The Associated Press interviewed Egner by telephone at the Silver Glen retirement cooperative in Bellevue. Egner told the AP he was unaware of the complaint against him.

When asked about the allegations that he served with the Einsatzgruppen, Egner told the AP, “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m sorry. Bye.”

However, the AP reported that Egner attorney Robert Gibbs of Seattle confirmed that his client “served on a low level in the security police when he was 19 or 20, but said his client denies participating in any persecution.”

“I don’t think he was involved at the level that would allow them to take away his citizenship,” Gibbs told The Associated Press.

The Guardian newspaper in London cited a report in the Belgrade media in which Egner was quoted as saying, “I’ve never hurt anyone in my Belgrade. You have my word.”

Acting U.S. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich said in a news release issued from Washington, “The Nazi unit in which Peter Egner is alleged to have participated was responsible for countless deaths and unimaginable suffering.”

Egner entered the United States in 1960 and applied for citizenship in 1965. The complaint alleges he “falsely answered a question regarding his prior foreign military service” by omitting his SPSS service.

Egner is charged with concealment or misrepresentation, lack of good moral character for his service in the SPSS, lack of good moral character for false testimony and lack of attachment to constitutional principles.

The complaint asks the court to find that Egner procured his U.S. citizenship illegally, to revoke his citizenship and “to grant other and further relief as may be just and proper.”

Egner was not arrested.

A spokesman for the U.S. Court in Seattle said that arrests are not usually made in civil cases. Once Egner is served with the court papers, he or his attorney will have 20 days to respond, according to the court spokesman.

The Oregonian reported that Egner came to Portland as a crewman on a German freighter and decided that he wanted to live here.

He reportedly worked in food service at a Seattle hotel and later at Portland’s Benson Hotel.

Belgrade Archive Director Branka Prpa has said that her organization has in its possession two documents regarding Egner.

“The Belgrade Archive has found documents on Peter Egner...where he registered in 1940,” said Prpa.

“We also found [reference to] him in certain files on people who went through Gestapo investigation procedures,” she said.

Prpa added that the content of these documents will be revealed to the public at a later date, after the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution has examined them.