AP: Germany won't pursue charges against MN man suspected of Nazi war crimes
Germany won't continue its investigation of a Minnesota man linked to Nazi war crimes during World War II, the Associated Press reports.
Michael Karkoc, a 96-year-old retired carpenter who lives in Lauderdale, Minnesota, was linked by the AP in 2013 to a Nazi SS-led unit that reportedly killed dozens of women and children during the war. In 1949, the Ukrainian-born Karkoc moved to the U.S. but did not divulge his military past, the AP reported.
Following the accusations from the AP, members of Karkoc's family told news organizations – such as the Star Tribune and KARE 11 – the report was untrue, and Karkoc had not been involved in the killings described by the AP.
In 2014 (a few months after testimony from 1968 was unearthed, seemingly supporting the AP's initial report) the Federal Court of Justice ruled Germany had the right to go ahead with prosecution of Karkoc, despite him not being German, and the suspected crimes not being committed on German soil, the Daily Mail reported.
But that won't go forward, the AP said Friday, with German authorities saying hey reviewed medical documentation from the U.S. and determined he wasn't fit for trial.
