Johann Breyer Former guard at Auschwitz Country: USA

1. Biography of Johann Breyer
2. Guarding Auschwitz
3. Immigrating to the United States
4. Recent Arrest and Health Condition
5. Ongoing Investigation and Extradition

Biography of Johann Breyer

Johann Breyer was born in 1925 in Czechoslovakia. His father was an ethnic German, and his mother was American, born in Philadelphia. In 1939, Slovakia became a separate state under the influence of Nazi Germany. In 1942, the SS recruited new soldiers among the ethnic Germans in Slovakia, and seventeen-year-old Johann joined them.

Guarding Auschwitz

During World War II, Johann Breyer worked as a guard at the Auschwitz death camp and contributed to the physical extermination of 216,000 Jewish men, women, and children. Each of the 158 charges of complicity in murder against him represents a trainload of Nazi prisoners from Hungary, Germany, and Czechoslovakia who perished in Auschwitz-Birkenau from May 1944 to October 1944.

Immigrating to the United States

In 1951, the American military authorities conducted an investigation in Germany when Johann Breyer first applied for a visa to the United States. The documents from this investigation prove that Breyer was part of the SS "Death's Head" battalion guarding Auschwitz as of December 29, 1944, four months after he claimed to have deserted. Breyer acknowledged being a guard at Auschwitz in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II but denied any involvement in the mass killings of one and a half million people, including Jews and individuals of other nationalities.

Recent Arrest and Health Condition

In 2014, the authorities in Weiden, Germany, issued an arrest warrant for Johann Breyer. However, his defense attorney argues that he is too old and frail to be held in custody pending extradition. Breyer suffers from heart problems, has had several mini-strokes, and exhibits mild dementia. The attorney claims that Breyer poses no threat to anyone and cannot flee. Nevertheless, the judge ruled that the prison has the necessary conditions to care for the 89-year-old defendant.

Ongoing Investigation and Extradition

The current investigation was initiated by the town of Weiden, where Breyer once lived. In a previous testimony, Breyer stated that he served in the perimeter guard at Auschwitz. He also indicated that his enlistment in the SS was not entirely voluntary and claimed to have deserted in August 1944, never returning to the camp. He allegedly rejoined his military unit near Berlin in the final weeks of the war. Breyer's lack of the typical SS tattoo or any trace of its removal supported his defense. Thomas Walther, a former prosecutor from a special department investigating Nazi crimes during the war, now represents the interests of the families of Breyer's alleged victims. He hopes for a swift extradition of the former camp guard. Breyer, on the other hand, is confident that he will not be extradited. A hearing on this case has been scheduled for August 21.