## Facts

- Michael Schmidt, born in Romania of German parentage, was inducted into the German Army in 1943.
- He served as an armed guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Oranienburg, Germany, with the SS “Death’s Head Battalion” (Totenkopf).
- His duties included guarding prisoners and preventing escape, functions that maintained confinement and forced labor within a system of racial, religious, and political persecution.
- After World War II, Schmidt sought entry to the United States under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 (DPA).
- On his displaced-person application, Schmidt disclosed service in a Waffen-SS unit but did not disclose concentration-camp guard service; he obtained certification and an immigrant visa.
- Schmidt later applied for and received U.S. naturalization in 1968 without disclosing his Sachsenhausen guard service.
- In 1988, the United States filed a civil denaturalization action, alleging Schmidt was ineligible for a DPA visa because he assisted in persecution, making his later naturalization unlawfully procured.
- Schmidt argued he did not personally commit atrocities, claimed he never entered the camp’s interior, and contended his service was involuntary due to conscription.

## Issues

1. Whether service as an armed guard at a Nazi concentration camp with the SS “Death’s Head Battalion” constitutes having “advocated or assisted in the persecution of persons because of race, religion or national origin” under § 13 of the Displaced Persons Act.
2. Whether alleged involuntariness, lack of direct brutality, or claimed absence from the camp interior defeats a finding of “assistance in persecution” under the DPA.
3. Whether ineligibility for a DPA visa renders the visa invalid such that later naturalization was “illegally procured” and revocable under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a).

## Decision

- The Seventh Circuit affirmed the district court’s summary judgment revoking Schmidt’s citizenship and canceling his naturalization certificate.
- The court held Schmidt’s armed guard service at Sachsenhausen constituted assistance in persecution within the meaning of the DPA, even without proof of personal brutality.
- The court concluded that conscription and asserted limited duties (including claims about not entering the camp) did not preclude a persecution finding as a matter of law on these facts.
- Because the DPA barred Schmidt from receiving a visa, his visa was invalid; consequently, he was not lawfully admitted for permanent residence and his citizenship was illegally procured under the governing naturalization requirements.

## Legal Principles

- Denaturalization is authorized under 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a) when citizenship was illegally procured; statutory conditions for naturalization must be satisfied.
- Lawful admission for permanent residence is a prerequisite to naturalization under 8 U.S.C. § 1427(a)(1); a visa obtained when the applicant was statutorily ineligible does not confer lawful admission.
- Section 13 of the Displaced Persons Act bars visas to persons who advocated or assisted in persecution on racial, religious, or national-origin grounds.
- Armed concentration-camp guard service that enforces confinement and prevents escape constitutes assistance in persecution because it sustains the persecutory regime, without requiring proof of individualized atrocities.
- In this context, claims of involuntary service or limited personal involvement do not negate assistance in persecution when the individual’s duties materially supported the operation of the camp system.

## Conclusion

The court upheld denaturalization because Schmidt’s armed guard service at a Nazi concentration camp amounted to assistance in persecution under the Displaced Persons Act, making him ineligible for a visa and rendering his subsequent naturalization illegally procured and revocable under federal law.


United States v. Schmidt, 923 F.2d 1253 (7th Cir. 1991)