A bill signed into law by President Obama on Dec. 18 ends Social Security benefits to some people who have been stripped of their U.S. citizenship — including the former owner of an Ohio injection molding company.
Jakob Denzinger, 90, who once owned Pioneer Plastics Corp. in the Akron suburb of Green, fled the U.S. in 1989 after he was accused of having been a guard at numerous German concentration camps, including Auschwitz, during World War II.
Plastics News first reported the accusations against Denzinger in 1989, and again in October after an Associated Press report disclosed that he was among 38 people who had agreed to leave the country but had been allowed to continue to receive Social Security benefits. According to that report, Denzinger now lives in Osijek, Croatia, where he collects $1,500 a month in Social Security payments.
After the AP series was published, Congress and the White House moved unusually quickly to cut off benefits to the suspected Nazi war criminals. According to AP, the House unanimously approved the bill Dec. 2 and the Senate passed it by voice vote just two days later.
Denzinger's son claims that his father was drafted into the army, and that he had no choice but to do what he was told. He is no longer connected to Pioneer Plastics.
So this is proof that Congress and the President can work together quickly to solve some problems. But don't consider this a precedent. It's not every day that politicians can vote against giving government checks to former Nazis.