Neal Sher, U.S. Government’s Leading Nazi Hunter, Dies at 74

Neal Sher, a lawyer who for 11 years ran the national bureau that rooted retired World War II-era Nazis successful the United States and moved to revoke their citizenship and deport them, died connected Sunday astatine his location successful Manhattan. He was 74.

His wife, Bonnie Kagan, said the origin was astir apt cardiac arrest.

Mr. Sher joined the recently formed Office of Special Investigations, the Justice Department’s Nazi-hunting department, arsenic a litigator successful 1979 and became its manager 4 years later. Its targets were often individuals who had lied to participate the United States aft World War II to conceal their Nazi past.

“We’re going aft radical who are progressive successful the astir heinous crimes known to modern man,” Mr. Sher told “CBS Morning News” in 1983. “For these radical to unrecorded freely successful the United States is contrary to everything this state stands for.”

The cases Mr. Sher prosecuted oregon oversaw included those of John Demjanjuk, a Ford Motor institution idiosyncratic successful Cleveland who was accused of having been a decease campy defender and deported to Germany; Archbishop Valerian Trifa, who, arsenic portion of the antisemitic Iron Guard of Romania, was reported to person instigated a pogrom successful 1941 against Jews successful Bucharest; and Arthur Rudolph, who was accused of “working enslaved laborers to death” successful the V-2 rocket mill successful Germany earlier becoming the task manager of NASA’s Saturn 5 rocket program, which was captious to the Apollo spaceflights.

Mr. Trifa was deported to Portugal, and Mr. Rudolph surrendered his citizenship and agreed to spell to West Germany alternatively than combat deportation. In 1987, the authorities determination said determination was insufficient grounds to warrant trying him.

“O.S.I. had a occupation that galore thought was intolerable to accomplish, and Neal showed it could beryllium accomplished,” erstwhile Representative Elizabeth Holtzman, Democrat of New York, said by phone. Ms. Holtzman, arsenic chairwoman of the House Subcommittee connected Immigration, led the effort to transportation the Justice Department to instrumentality implicit the government’s pursuit of Nazis from the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

In 1986, Mr. Sher recommended that Kurt Waldheim, a erstwhile secretary-general of the United Nations, beryllium denied introduction into the United States due to the fact that of his work arsenic a German Army lieutenant successful the Balkans during brutal campaigns against Yugoslav partisans and wide deportations of Greek Jews to decease camps.

In a study to Attorney General Edwin Meese 3d, Mr. Sher wrote that “if Mr. Waldheim were successful this country, O.S.I. would question support to institute deportation proceedings connected the ground of specified activities.”

Few cases facing Mr. Sher were much analyzable than the 1 against Mr. Demjanjuk. Born successful Ukraine, a Ford Motor works idiosyncratic surviving successful Cleveland. The O.S.I. said helium had concealed his warfare crimes successful his migration papers and accused him of being “Ivan the Terrible,” the sadistic defender astatine the Treblinka decease campy successful Poland. He was stripped of his citizenship successful 1981 and extradited to Israel, wherever helium was convicted of warfare crimes successful 1988 and sentenced to death.

But successful 1993, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned his conviction, citing tenable uncertainty that helium was “Ivan the Terrible.” An American appeals tribunal sheet aboriginal that twelvemonth revoked the archetypal extradition bid and criticized the O.S.I. for what it said was a “win astatine immoderate cost” zeal successful prosecuting Mr. Demjanjuk. The office, it said, had failed to crook implicit to his defence perchance exculpatory grounds that different Ukrainian, Ivan Marchenko, was “Ivan the Terrible” and had shown “reckless disregard for the truth.”

Eli Rosenbaum, who succeeded Mr. Sher arsenic O.S.I. director, said successful an interrogation that portion Mr. Sher did not effort the case, “He had the misfortune of being manager erstwhile a batch of details astir however the lawsuit was mishandled came out.”

Mr. Demjanjuk returned to Cleveland successful 1993 and regained his U.S. citizenship 5 years later. But the O.S.I. continued its pursuit, accusing him of having been a defender astatine the Sobibor extermination campy successful Poland.

“If idiosyncratic worked astatine a Ford plant, they made cars for a living,” Mr. Sher told The Los Angeles Times successful 2001. “If idiosyncratic worked astatine Sobibor, they killed Jews for a living.”

Mr. Demjanjuk mislaid his citizenship again successful 2002 and was deported to Germany. He was convicted successful 2011 by a tribunal successful Munich for taking portion successful the execution of 28,000 Jews successful Sobibor and was sentenced to 5 years successful prison. He died a twelvemonth later successful a nursing location successful confederate Germany.

Since 1979, the O.S.I. has deported, extradited oregon expelled 69 erstwhile Nazis.

Neal Matthew Sher was calved connected Aug. 29, 1947, successful Brooklyn. His mother, Sally (Cohen) Sher, was a rent power examiner for New York City’s Housing and Development Administration. His father, Benjamin, a postal worker, had participated successful the Normandy penetration successful World War II.

Mr. Sher received a bachelor’s grade from Cornell University successful 1968 and a instrumentality grade from New York University 4 years later. He clerked for Judge Barrington Parker astatine Federal District Court successful Washington and worked successful backstage signifier arsenic a labour lawyer earlier joining the Nazi-hunting office. The occupation fed his interests successful the Holocaust and the postwar trials of Nazi Germany warfare criminals astatine Nuremberg.

As the O.S.I.’s director, helium enactment successful spot a blase strategy that allowed the office’s historians to cheque wartime German unit records against United States migration records. The bureau had antecedently relied connected tips, mostly from different governments.

“There is simply a Hollywood conception astir our enactment that a subsister recognizes his tormentor connected the street, which is large cinema,” Mr. Rosenbaum said. “But the world is much similar what we did.”

In conjunction with Israel and Germany, Mr. Sher besides led the O.S.I.’s efforts to find Josef Mengele, the notorious decease campy doctor. The hunt led to the find successful 1985 of a skeleton successful a Brazilian graveyard that was determined to beryllium Mengele’s. Mr. Sher himself had urged the German authorities to instrumentality humor samples of Mengele’s archetypal woman and lad for DNA testing.

He was besides palmy successful ensuring the deportation to Estonia successful 1987 of Karl Linnas, the erstwhile commandant of a Nazi attraction campy determination who had been surviving connected Long Island. Mr. Linnas died that twelvemonth successful a Leningrad infirmary aft the Soviet authorities had commuted his decease sentence.

Mr. Sher near the O.S.I. successful 1994 to go enforcement manager of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, oregon AIPAC, the main pro-Israel lobbying radical successful the United States. Two years aboriginal helium joined a Washington instrumentality firm, and successful 1998 helium was named main of unit of the International Commission connected Holocaust Era Insurance Claims, which settled claims against European insurers by Holocaust survivors and their families.

But successful 2002 helium resigned erstwhile it was disclosed that helium had submitted much than $100,000 successful mendacious claims for reimbursement of question expenses. He repaid the money, but the New York barroom suspended his license, and the Washington barroom disbarred him.

In summation to his wife, Mr. Sher is survived by his brother, Robert. His marriages to Anne Masters and Grazia Lupi ended successful divorce.

After being reinstated to the New York bar, 1 of Mr. Sher’s large cases was representing victims of the wide shootings astatine Fort Hood successful Texas successful 2009 by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan; 13 radical were killed and much than 30 wounded successful the attack. The victims filed a suit against the national authorities seeking benefits and Purple Hearts.

The Army initially enactment the shootings successful the class of “workplace violence,” which prevented the awarding of Purple Hearts. But Mr. Sher argued that the enactment was home terrorism; Major Hasan, who was convicted and is connected decease row, said the shootings had been an effort to support Taliban leaders successful Afghanistan from American troops.

Congress yet changed the eligibility requirements for the Purple Heart, allowing the victims to person the medal. Afterward, Mr. Sher said, “I deliberation it yet puts to remainder the insulting and disingenuous insinuation that this was an incidental of workplace violence.”