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Podcast: North Star with Ellin Bessner
Episode: "National disgrace": A Nazi hunter accuses Canada of failing to prosecute Helmut Oberlander
Description: Helmut Oberlander came to Canada in 1954. He was married, raised a family and became a successful real estate developer in Waterloo, Ont. But in 1986, a secret spilled out into public, when a retired Quebec judge, Jules Deschênes, held an inquiry into Nazis secretly living in Canada. Deschênes named Oberlander among those who were.
Years of legal battles ensued, in which the federal government stripped Oberlander of his citizenship four times for lying about his wartime past. The case languished in legal purgatory for decades—until this week.
On Sept. 20, 2021, Oberlander died in his home...