Konrāds Kalējs

Konrāds Kalējs (26 June 1913 – 8 November 2001) was a Latvian soldier who was allegedly a Nazi collaborator and war criminal during World War II. He gained notoriety for evading calls for his prosecution across four countries, more than once under the threat of deportation, Lord Greville Janner once describing him as "the most unwanted wanted man in the world."

Kalejs was born in Riga, the capital of Latvia, in 1913. In 1935 he joined the Latvian army as a cadet, and attained the rank of lieutenant four years later.cite news | title = Konrad Kalejs: Target for Nazi hunters | publisher = BBC | date = 2000-01-03 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/589304.stm | accessdate = 2007-09-17 ] In 1941, following the German invasion of Latvia as part of Operation Barbarossa, Kalejs deserted the Red Army (Latvia by that stage having been ) and joined the Nazis, becoming a member of the Nazi-controlled Latvian security police.cite news | last = Barkham | first = Patrick | title = Obituary: Konrad Kalejs | work = Guardian Unlimited | date = 12 November 2001 | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/nazis/article/0,2763,591774,00.html | accessdate = 2007-09-10 ] Kalejs would later assert that he worked as a farmhand during this period.

At the end of the war Kalejs moved to Denmark, and in 1950 migrated to Australia, where he was employed at the migrant camp in the north-east Victorian town of Bonegilla. Becoming an Australian citizen in 1957, Kalejs later left for the United States in 1959 for a lucrative career in property development.

In 1984, Kalejs' Nazi connections were revealed, and after a four year process, a United States court revoked Kalejs' visa, having found that there was "unequivocal evidence" that he had participated in war crimes in Latvia, though as an Australian citizen Kalejs was not prosecuted. The United States Department of Justice alleged that between July 1941 and July or at least June 1944, Kalejs was a company commander in the notorious Arajs Kommando (Sonderkommando Arajs), one of several security police units which assisted the Einsatzgruppen death squads in killing Jews and Roma in Latvia, and in guarding the Salaspils concentration camp. According to renowned Holocaust scholar Raul Hilberg, who gave evidence during the American proceedings against Kalejs, German documents established that the Einsatzkommando, the Arajs Kommando and similar groups were responsible for killing about 29,000 people (including about 26,000 Jews) by August 1941 and a further 27,800 Jews near Riga by the end of 1941 (the Arajs Kommando were responsible for about half of this total).

Kalejs was deported from the United States to Australia after a six year long appeals process, and then moved to Canada, where in 1997 he was once again deported to Australia after a court again revoked his visa, finding that he had "committed war crimes" as a collaborator.

In 1999, Kalejs left Australia for the United Kingdom, where he settled in Catthorpe, Leicestershire, staying at Catthorpe Manor, a nursing home run by the Latvian Welfare Fund. After being discovered, then Home Secretary Jack Straw announced that moves would be made to deport Kalejs, at which Kalejs returned once again to Australia. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which had discovered Kalejs' presence in Catthorpe, criticised Straw's decision, with a spokesperson labelling it a "missed opportunity" to prosecute him, and warning that "if he returns to Australia he will benefit from the country's lax attitude towards Nazi war criminals."cite news | title = Nazi suspect set to leave | publisher = BBC | date = January 3 2000 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/589237.stm | accessdate = 2007-09-20 ]

Latvian authorities finally charged Kalejs with war crimes offences in September 2000, relating to his participation at the Salaspils labour camp, and in May 2001 a Melbourne court ordered Kalejs' extradition to Latvia. Kalejs appealed this decision, and the ensuing proceedings were delayed by illness, with Kalejs said to be suffering from dementia and prostate cancer at the time, and his lawyers claiming that he was blind and had lost his memory.cite news | title = Nazi suspect can be extradited | publisher = BBC | date = 29 May 2001 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/1356708.stm | accessdate = 2007-09-20 ]

Kalejs died in Australia in November 2001. His lawyers criticised the Government of Australia for being "inhumane and callous in its bid to extradite a sick old man" and described the process as a "witch hunt". [http://www.tol.cz/look/wire/article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=10&NrIssue=161&NrSection=1&NrArticle=2618&ALStart=860 Alleged Latvian War Criminal Dies in Australia ] ]

References

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