Former Nazi Lived in Catskills

By Meghan E. Murphy, Times Herald-Record

Seven years after a court ordered Mykola Wasylyk out of the United States for his role in Nazi prison camps, the former Ellenville man still lives in the country.

The U.S. Department of Justice is still working to deport Wasylyk and four other people shown to have played a part in the Nazi Party during World War II, according to spokeswoman Laura Sweeney. Wasylyk was 81 years old when he was put in a Miami jail in 2004, but he was later released and remains under supervision. Reached in North Port, Fla., Wasylyk’s wife, Olga, declined to comment.

Two other men, both in their 80s, were deported this year. Josias Kumpf, 83, of Racine, Wisc., was deported to Austria in March, and war crimes suspect John Demjanjuk, 89, is facing trial in Germany after being deported from Ohio.

A native of Ukraine, Wasylyk owned a bungalow rental property and a home in Ellenville as well as property in North Port.

He sold his Ellenville home in 2003, according to the Town of Ulster assessor.

During his deportation case Wasylyk maintained that he was forced into Nazi service.

Court records showed that the German army invaded his village in 1943, but by the end of the war Wasylyk was a prison guard.

Despite his pleas of innocence, a judge revoked Wasylyk’s citizenship in 2001, and courts denied his appeals to stay in the country.

But in order to deport people, immigration officials must find a country willing to accept them, said Nicole Navas, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

In recent years, four men have died awaiting deportation, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Another local man suspected of involvement with the Nazi party, Dmytro Sawchuk of Glen Spey, moved to Germany in 1999 after the denaturalization case against him began. He died in 2004.