Don’t Deport Helmut Oberlander
Canada First Immigration Reform Committee
Box 332,
Rexdale, Ontario, M9W 5L3
Ph:289-674-4455; FAX: 289-674-4820
Website: http://cafe.nfshost.com
Paul Fromm, B.Ed, M.A. Director
June 12, 2019
The Hon. Justin Trudeau,
Prime Minister of Canada,
House of Commons,
Ottawa, ON.,
K1A 0A6
Re: Deportation of Helmut Oberlander
Dear Mr. Trudeau:
After a 24 year legal battle, German immigrant and highly successful businessman Helmut Oberlander faces deportation from Canada. He has been stripped of his Canadian citizenship and faces removal. His case, with numerous appeals, has wended its way through the courts for almost a quarter of a century, at obscene costs to the Canadian taxpayer, to say nothing of the costs to Mr. Oberlander.
A complete review of this legal journey would turn this letter into a book. However, here is a brief summary. Helmut Oberlander was a 17-year old lad living in the Ukraine when German forces invaded. He was Volksdeutche, that is, part of a German minority who had settled there in the 18th century. Young Helmut spoke Russian, Ukrainian and German and, thus, was useful to the German army as a translator. He was seconded to a SD Einheit (Security Unit) of the German Army.
After the war, he went to Germany and trained as a bricklayer and construction engineer. In 1954, he emigrated to Canada and worked for the next few years in the construction trade. In 1958, he formed his own construction company Oberlander Construction and was instrumental in the building explosion in the Kitchener-Waterloo region over the next four decades. Mr. Oberlander was an exemplary and contributing citizen, paying handsome taxes and employing many people.
His legal torment began in 1994, when, in response to persistent Jewish lobbying to refight World War II, the government of the day sought to strip Mr. Oberlander of his citizenship on the basis that he must have lied to obtain entry to Canada as membership in units like the SD Einheit made him ineligible as they were implicated in killing some civilians. However, it was not as simple. It quickly became clear that Mr. Oberlander had committed no war crimes. He was a youthful translator. Potential immigrants were supposed to be asked about their wartime service. So, it is assumed that Mr. Oberlander lied. However, numerous people who immigrated at the time recall that, shortly after the war, RCMP interrogators no longer asked about wartime service but only about membership in the communist party. Could Mr. Oberlander be held responsible for not volunteering information he was not asked for? There is no longer any paper record. The notes from the interviews of the time have long since been destroyed. Indeed, there is no evidence of any wrongdoing on Mr. Oberlander’s part. In contrast, there are the 61 years of Mr. Oberlander’s entrepreneurship and contribution to Canada — in other words, evidence of a solid, exemplary, contributing citizen!
Why the singleminded obsession with the deportation of this 96 year old man? It’s hard not to draw a parallel with the treatment of ex-terrorist Omar Khadr. Like Mr. Oberlander his wartime actions started when he was what we would now call a “young offender”. But Mr. Oberlander committed no crime; while Mr. Khadr killed an American soldier and partially blinded another. Yet, Canada has bent over backwards for Mr. Khadr, citing his youthful status at the time, and rewarding him with what was to be a secret $10.5-million settlement. Mr. Khadr had contributed nothing to Canada. In contrast, Mr. Oberlander who never committed a crime has made an outstanding contribution to Canada as a model immigrant.
I call upon you to in the interests of fairness and humanity to a 96-year old man to end this persecution and let Mr. Oberlander live out his remaining years with his family in Canada. Stop the German bashing!
Sincerely yours,
Paul Fromm
Director