Rambam Mesivta Rally:
Protesting
Nazi Underground Hiding in Queens
November 9th, 1938 -
The Nazis unleashed a night of terror against their Jewish citizens in a
dramatic inception of the Holocaust known as Kristallnacht, the night of
broken glass. That night, synagogues were desecrated and set aflame, and Jewish
institutions and businesses were ransacked. Hitler, emboldened by the fact that
no one pressured him to stop, began implementing his notorious plan laid out in
Mein Kampf – calling for the extermination of the Jewish race.
November 9th 2005 - 200
Students and faculty members of Rambam Mesivta High School descended upon the homes of Jakiw Palij and Jaroslaw
Bilaniuk, both residents of Queens to protest their continued presence in
the United States despite rulings in federal courts calling for their
deportation for serving as “cogs” in the Nazi killing machine and “directly
contributing” to the slaughter of Jews at the hand of the Nazis.
Both Palij and Bilaniuk served
as guards at the notorious Tranwiki labor camp, a training ground for Nazi
Brutality. In fact, 62 years ago last week, the Tranwiki guards
participated in the murder of 6,000 Tranwiki Jews on November 3rd
and 4th, 1943 and the eventual liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto.
Busloads of students arrived at
Palij’s house at 1:30 PM chanting, “No S.S. In the US,” “Just get out” while
waiving placards demanding his immediate deportation.
“Based on the evidence so
painstakingly compiled by O.S.I. under the directorship of Eli Rosenbaum,
‘It seems clear that these are monsters who killed Jews together, lied
together, lived together and continue to conspire together. They must both be
brought to justice together and be removed from the US,’” said rally organizer
Rabbi Zev Friedman.
Students then headed to
Bilaniuk’s house to assemble once again in order to send him a clear message
that his crimes have not been forgotten and to support the US government’s case
that he be removed from the United States.
(Complete Documents available upon request)
“The
Trawniki Training Camp trained men to serve as guard auxiliaries for all
aspects of Operation Reinhard, the Nazis’ effort to murder Jews in Poland.”
“The men
trained at Trawniki were essential to the implementation of Operation
Reinhard.”
“Operation
Reinhard was the Nazi program to dispossess, exploit, and murder Jews in
Poland.”
“As part
of Operation Reinhard, the minority of Jews not immediately put to death were
imprisoned in slave labor camps.”
“In the
course of Operation Reinhard, approximately 1.7 million Jewish adults and
children were murdered.”
“Defendant
(Bilaniuk) a Trawniki-trained guard during World War II”
“Defendant
(Bilaniuk) traveled to Trawniki with Jakiw Palij”
“Defendant
(Bilaniuk)’s Trawniki identification number 3504 was part of a block of numbers
assigned on February 13, 1943, to recruits from Galicia. .Jakiw Palij, also
from Piadyki, was assigned Trawniki identification number 3505.”
“As a
member of Trawniki’s Guard Forces, Defendant (Bilaniuk) participated in the
implementation of Operation Reinhard.”
“On November 3-4, 1943, virtually all of the Jewish
prisoners at SS Labor Camp Trawniki – men, women and children – as well as
those at most of the other forced-labor camps in Lublin district, were
murdered. This slaughter -- carried out under the code name “Operation
Harvest Festival” -- marked the successful conclusion of Operation Reinhard.”
“Defendant
(Bilaniuk) is identified on four German-created rosters of the Streibel
Battalion’s First Company by his name, rank, and Trawniki identification
number.”
“Also
listed on the rosters as serving in the Streibel Battalion with
Defendant(Bilaniuk) were fellow Trawniki guards Jakiw Palij and Bronislaw
Hajda”
“Defendant
(Bilaniuk) applied for displaced person status on the same day in the same
location as Jakiw Palij.”
“Defendant
(Bilaniuk) represented to the DPC that he worked as a “joiner” in a shop in
Kolomyya, Poland, from 1937 until June 1941”
“That
information was knowingly false.”
“Palij
also represented to the DPC that he had been in Piadyki until June 1944, when
he left to work as a farmer on a farm in Koeditz, Germany.”
“That
information was knowingly false.”
“Jakiw
Palij, applied for a visa application in the same office on the same day as
Defendant (Bilaniuk).”
“On March
22, 1957, he submitted an Application to File Petition for Naturalization.”
“Jakiw
Palij also submitted an Application to File Petition for Naturalization on the
same day”
“After
entering the country, Defendant (Bilaniuk) and Palij lived together at 423 East
5th Street, New York, N.Y.”
“On April
30, 1960, Jakiw Palij married Maria Turczan in St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic
Church in New York City and Defendant (Bilaniuk) served as a witness at Palij’s
wedding.
“When
Defendant (Bilaniuk) was deposed in connection with the Palij case in
2003, he recited Palij’s address and telephone number from memory.”
“Palij’s
name and telephone number appears in Defendant (Bilaniuk)’s address book.”