Jackson Heights, NY – Long Island High Schoolers Organize Rally Outside Home Of Nazi Guard (video-photos)

Jackson Heights, NY – A crowd of approximately 150 people gathered this afternoon in Queens for a protest rally outside the home of the last known Nazi criminal in New York in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht.

The gathering, which was organized by the Rambam Mesivta in Lawrence, took place outside the Jackson Heights home of 90 year old Jakiw Palij, who has been identified by the Department of Justice as an armed guard who was actively involved in the extermination of 6,000 men, women and children in the Trawniki labor camp in Poland in November 1943.

Video below credit: Shmuel Lenchevsky/VINnews.con

The goal of the protest was twofold, according to the Rosh Mesivta, Rabbi Zev Freidman.

“We wanted to bring public attention and awareness to the fact that there is still a Nazi war criminal, a murderer of our people, living in our neighborhood, just a thirty minute drive from so many of us who live in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Long Island and Queens,” Rabbi Friedman told VIN News. “From an educational standpoint we hope to instill in our students an awareness that they have to be sensitive to the needs of klal yisroel. Someone killed our fellow Jews. How can we allow him to live peacefully in our community?”

According to Rabbi Friedman the high schoolers were instrumental in orchestrating today’s protest.

“They helped plan the rally, wrote the press releases and contacted the media and elected officials themselves,” explained Rabbi Friedman. “We want to promote in them a responsibility to be community leaders. When something is wrong in our community, we want our students to step up to the plate and take an active role in fixing it.”

Palij was stripped of his United States citizenship in 2003 for failure to disclose that he had been a guard in Trawinki, but with no country willing to take him in, he has continued to reside in New York.

“He came here under a lie and he continues to live here, enjoying the fresh air in Queens,” said Assemblyman Dov Hikind. “He is living here among us, with his name on his doorbell and he has nothing to worry about. People have said ‘why are you bothering an old man?’ You have to wonder, people who were responsible for murdering men, women and children, do we just leave them alone after a certain age?”

Over 100 students from Rambam were present at today’s rally with students reading aloud letters of support from Congressman Joseph Crowley, who represents Jackson Heights, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy and Congressman Gregory Meeks, who expressed their solidarity with the students and their firm belief that Palij be deported, and that he, and other Nazi war criminals living in the United States, be brought to justice.

Rabbi Friedman stressed that today’s rally was not only about raising awareness but also about achieving concrete results.

“We have a concrete goal in mind, which is to get him extradited,” said Rabbi Friedman.

Today’s rally is not the first time that Rambam students have taken it upon themselves to have Nazis war criminals ejected from their residences. According to a 2005 report in the Daily News, students from the Lawrence high school were actively involved in the extradition of Aleksandras Lilekis from the United States and Korad Kalejs from Australia.

Palij, shrugged to the NY Post after the rally saying, “I am starting to get used to it,”. Paliji said that he was forced into Nazi servitude — and claimed he doesn’t hate Jews.

Hikind also expressed his intention to ensure that all Nazi war criminals are ejected from the United States.

“I am determined to pursue not only this guy, but also others who live in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Michigan,” vowed Hikind. “I will go there and rally the Jewish communities. This is alef bais; this is fundamental. The idea that someone who participated in “The Final Solution” can be living here among us? This goes to the heart and soul of what my parents went through and what so many in our community went through.”

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