Politics Trumped Legal Advice in Decision Not to Revoke Citizenship of Nazi in 1960s

Politics Trumped Legal Advice in Decision Not to Revoke Citizenship of Nazi in 1960s
Reporters swarm around Pierre Trudeau after he was sworn-in as justice minister in Ottawa on April 4, 1967. The Canadian Press/Chuck Mitchell
The Canadian Press
Updated:

Newly declassified pages from a 40-year-old report on Canada’s handling of Nazi war criminals suggest both the author and Canadian bureaucrats felt politics, and not legal arguments, were driving decisions around a man convicted of Nazi war crimes in the Soviet Union.

The 1967 decision not to extradite the man or revoke his citizenship was based heavily on advice from former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, who was justice minister at the time.