‘Nazi hunter’ Eli Rosenbaum tapped to head DOJ team investigating war crimes in Ukraine
The former director of the Justice Department’s Office of Special Investigations for decades sought out and deported Nazi war criminals living in the United States.
(JTA) — Eli Rosenbaum, a Justice Department veteran known for his work tracking and deporting former Nazis residing in the United States, will lead a team working to identify and prosecute people responsible for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment in a statement on Tuesday, while in Ukraine.
“There is no hiding place for war criminals. The U.S. Justice Department will pursue every avenue of accountability for those who commit war crimes and other atrocities in Ukraine,” Garland wrote in the news release.
Rosenbaum will lead the DOJ’s War Crimes Accountability Team. Starting in 1979, Rosenbaum had led a team through the Office of Special Investigations, or OSI, that over decades deported over 95 war criminals and their allies.
Amid reports of war crimes by Russian soldiers as the invasion continues, Rosenbaum is expected to work with both domestic and international offices regarding crimes over which the United States has jurisdiction, including the killing of American journalists.
“Working alongside our domestic and international partners, the Justice Department will be relentless in our efforts to hold accountable every person complicit in the commission of war crimes, torture, and other grave violations during the unprovoked conflict in Ukraine,” Garland added.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO