The
PROSECUTOR
FILM SYNOPSIS
After World War II, hundreds of Nazis fled to the United States, using falsified immigration papers to try to hide their identities and escape punishment for their crimes. The U.S. Department of Justice established the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) in 1979 to track them down and deport them. The man who led OSI in the 1980s and 1990s was Neal M. Sher, known as America’s foremost Nazi hunter for his efforts to prosecute and deport these criminals. His successes in more than 100 cases included also the unmasking of U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim in 1987 as a prominent Nazi, and his exclusion from the United States. Sadly, Neal passed away in October 2021, but the stories of the prosecutions he led can and should be recorded. This is what we are doing in the documentary “The Prosecutor.”
NEAL SHER
1947-2021
From 1983 to 1994, Sher headed the Office of Special Investigations (OSI), the Justice Department’s Nazi prosecution unit, where he oversaw the denaturalization and deportation of dozens of onetime Nazi war criminals. His investigation of the Nazi past of former United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim resulted in Sher's submission of a report to the United States Attorney General. That report, in turn, led to Waldheim’s placement on the watch list of persons ineligible to enter the United States. In 1989, Sher received the Raoul Wallenberg "Hero in Our time" Award of the Shaare Tzedek Medical Center for his work. For his accomplishments in pursuing justice in the Nazi cases, Sher received numerous other awards, including: the Benjamin Cardozo Award of the Anti-Defamation League, a Special Commendation for Pursuit of Justice of Yad Vashem, Man of the Year of both the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance Organization and the Shomrim Society, the Distinguished Service Award of the Survivors of the Riga Ghetto organization, the Humanitarian Award of Emunah Women of America, and a U.S. Department of Justice Senior Executive Service Meritorious Achievement Award.
NAZI PERSECUTORS AND COLLABORATORS
OSI sought to remove from the United States 134 Nazi persecutors
  • NAME: Anton Bless
  • BORN: 1924, Yugoslavia
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: After being notified that a denaturalization case was about to be filed, Bless went to Germany in Aug. 1992. The court entered a default judgment revoking his citizenship in Dec. 1992.
  • NAME: Peter Bernes
  • BORN: 1922, Lithuania
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Adjutant to Nazi-appointed commandant in Kupiskes, Lithuania.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: After being notified that OSI was about to file a denaturalization case, Bernes left for Lithuania in Jan. 2002. His citizenship was revoked in May 2002 pursuant to a default judgment order.
  • NAME: Boleslavs Bogdanovs
  • BORN: 1917, Russia
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Member of the “Arajs Kommando,” a Latvian death squad responsible for mass execution of thousands of civilians in Nazi-occupied Latvia.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: Denaturalization proceedings commenced in Nov. 1983. Bogdanovs died before the case was resolved.
  • NAME: Arthur Rudolph
  • BORN: 1906, Germany
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Operations Director of the Mittelwerk underground V-2 missile plant, part of the Dora-Nordhausen concentration camp complex in central Germany. The plant used slave labor.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: The case settled prior to OSI’s filing suit. Rudolph went to Germany in Mar. 1984 and surrendered his U.S. citizenship two months later.
  • NAME: Wiatschelaw Rydlinskis
  • BORN: 1924, Lithuania
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Guard and dog handler in Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps; guard during the evacuation of prisoners from a Buchenwald subcamp to Dachau in Mar. 1945.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: OSI filed a denaturalization action in Dec. 1994. Rydlinskis left for Germany shortly thereafter and renounced his U.S. citizenship in June 1995.
  • NAME: Jonas Stelmokas
  • BORN: 1916, Russia
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Platoon commander in the 3rd/11th Schutzmannschaft, based in Kaunas, Lithuania; commander of the guards at the Jewish ghetto in Kaunas. His battalion took part in the massacre of 9,200 Jews in the ghetto.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: Government filed a denaturalization complaint in June 1992. Citizenship revoked in Aug. 1995. Ordered deported to Lithuania in Apr. 1998. Died while that order was on appeal.
  • NAME: Otto von Bolschwing
  • BORN: 1909, Germany
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Working under Adolf Eichmann in the Jewish Affairs Office of the Allgemeine SS, von Bolschwing proposed various repressive measures against the Jews. As chief of Nazi intelligence agents in Romania he provided sanctuary to several fascist leaders and helped arrange their escape to Germany.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: Denaturalization proceedings commenced in May 1981. Case settled in Dec. 1981. Forfeited citizenship.
  • NAME: Vladas Zajanckauskas
  • BORN: 1915, Lithuania
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Trained men at Trawniki and participated in the final liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto; later served in the Streibel Battatlion.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: OSI began denaturalization proceedings in June 2002.
  • NAME: Anton Bless
  • BORN: 1924, Yugoslavia
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Guard at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: After being notified that a denaturalization case was about to be filed, Bless went to Germany in Aug. 1992. The court entered a default judgment revoking his citizenship in Dec. 1992.
  • NAME: Peter Bernes
  • BORN: 1922, Lithuania
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Adjutant to Nazi-appointed commandant in Kupiskes, Lithuania.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: After being notified that OSI was about to file a denaturalization case, Bernes left for Lithuania in Jan. 2002. His citizenship was revoked in May 2002 pursuant to a default judgment order.
  • NAME: Boleslavs Bogdanovs
  • BORN: 1917, Russia
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Member of the “Arajs Kommando,” a Latvian death squad responsible for mass execution of thousands of civilians in Nazi-occupied Latvia.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: Denaturalization proceedings commenced in Nov. 1983. Bogdanovs died before the case was resolved.
  • NAME: Arthur Rudolph
  • BORN: 1906, Germany
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Operations Director of the Mittelwerk underground V-2 missile plant, part of the Dora-Nordhausen concentration camp complex in central Germany. The plant used slave labor.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: The case settled prior to OSI’s filing suit. Rudolph went to Germany in Mar. 1984 and surrendered his U.S. citizenship two months later.
  • NAME: Wiatschelaw Rydlinskis
  • BORN: 1924, Lithuania
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Guard and dog handler in Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps; guard during the evacuation of prisoners from a Buchenwald subcamp to Dachau in Mar. 1945.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: OSI filed a denaturalization action in Dec. 1994. Rydlinskis left for Germany shortly thereafter and renounced his U.S. citizenship in June 1995.
  • NAME: Jonas Stelmokas
  • BORN: 1916, Russia
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Platoon commander in the 3rd/11th Schutzmannschaft, based in Kaunas, Lithuania; commander of the guards at the Jewish ghetto in Kaunas. His battalion took part in the massacre of 9,200 Jews in the ghetto.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: Government filed a denaturalization complaint in June 1992. Citizenship revoked in Aug. 1995. Ordered deported to Lithuania in Apr. 1998. Died while that order was on appeal.
  • NAME: Otto von Bolschwing
  • BORN: 1909, Germany
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Working under Adolf Eichmann in the Jewish Affairs Office of the Allgemeine SS, von Bolschwing proposed various repressive measures against the Jews. As chief of Nazi intelligence agents in Romania he provided sanctuary to several fascist leaders and helped arrange their escape to Germany.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: Denaturalization proceedings commenced in May 1981. Case settled in Dec. 1981. Forfeited citizenship.
  • NAME: Vladas Zajanckauskas
  • BORN: 1915, Lithuania
  • ALLEGED PERSECUTORY ACTIVITY: Trained men at Trawniki and participated in the final liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto; later served in the Streibel Battatlion.
  • LEGAL HISTORY: OSI began denaturalization proceedings in June 2002.
Sher Kagan Productions, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3)
If you would prefer to pay by check:
Make payable to: Sher Kagan Productions, Inc.
Mail to: 233 E 69th Street, Suite 2i, New York, NY 10021
If you would not like to be listed as a Patron, kindly opt out below:
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Thank you to our generous donors. Let us know if you would like to
have your name on the film credits:
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
OUR BOARD
Bonnie Kagan Sher
Michael B. Mukasey, Attorney General of the United States, 2007-2009
Jeffrey M. Eilender
Jake A. Greenspan
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
Reach Out Directly
Phone: (212) 518-8690
Email: info@theprosecutor.org
Phone: (212) 518-8690          Email: info@theprosecutor.org
Or Send Us a Note Below
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.