The United States Department of Justice has initiated legal proceedings for the extradition of a 79 year-old American citizen of Lithuanian origin who is suspected of collaborating with the Nazis in the extermination of Jews in World War II. A complaint was lodged against Peter John Bernes also known as Petras Bernotavicius in the State of Illinois on charges of his failing to report about his past activities in Lithuania when he arrived in Illinois in 1947. Should the charges prove valid, Bernes’s citizenship will be revoked and he will be deported from the United States. According to Department of Justice charges, Bernes served as the deputy to a German officer who was in charge of the town of Kupiskis, Lithuania. As part of his job Bernes gathered the Jews and transported them to the local extermination facility. During the Nazi occupation, the entire Jewish population of Kupiskis, about 1000 souls comprising about one quarter of the town’s entire population, were exterminated. In order to complete the legal proceedings, witnesses must be located, and herein lies the difficulty since all the Jews in the town were murdered.
Bernes’ case is unusual since in most instances the United States Department of Justice does not take action against local collaborators with the Nazis. The Lithuanian case is an exception, because of the crucial role the local collaborators played in exterminating the Jews.
