United States v. Osidach

513 F. Supp. 51
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 30, 1981
DocketCiv. A. 79-4212
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 513 F. Supp. 51 (United States v. Osidach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Osidach, 513 F. Supp. 51 (E.D. Pa. 1981).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

BECHTLE, District Judge.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GENERAL — statement of the case ................................... pp.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND ................................... pp.

(A) Events Prior to 1939 ................................... pp.

(B) Events From 1939 to 1941...............................pp.

(C) Events From 1941 to 1944 ............................... pp.

(D) The Rawa Ruska Ghetto................................ pp.

(E) Defendant Osidach’s Undisputed Activities From 1941 to 1944 .. pp.

*56 TABLE OF CONTENTS

II. ILLEGAL PROCUREMENT................................pp.--

(A) Unlawful Admission into the United States.................pp.--

(1) Ineligibility as a Displaced Person......................pp.--

(a) Historical Overview.............................. pp.---

(b) Application of the Fedorenko Decision to § 13 of the DPA.....................................pp.---

(c) Membership Under § 13 of the DPA.................pp.--

(d) Constitutional Limitation.......................... pp.--

(2) Osidach’s Ineligibility as a Displaced Person..............pp.--

(a) Role of the Ukrainian Police Throughout Galacia from 1941 to 1945 ....................................pp.--

(b) Role of the Ukrainian Police in the Town of Rawa Ruska from 1942 to 1944 .......................... pp.--

(i) Documentary Proof........................... pp.---

(ii) Eyewitness Testimony......................... pp.---

(ii-a) Enforcement of Ghettoization of Jews and Enforcement of Other Degrading Laws Enacted for the Jewish Population by the Occupying Germans......................pp.---

(ii-b) Guarding and Abuse of Jewish Laborers.....pp.---

(ii-c) Ukrainian Police Used in the Deportation of Jews from the Ghetto..................pp.---

(ii — d) Activities of the Ukrainian Police in the Final Action Involving the Liquidation of the Rawa Ruska Ghetto................pp.---

(c) Osidach’s Version of the Role of the Ukrainian Police in

the Town of Rawa Ruska from 1942 to 1944 ..........pp.---

(i) Administrative Necessity......................pp.---

(ii) The Jewish Order Police.......................pp.---

(iii) Defendant Osidach’s Role as a Willing Member of the Ukrainian Police in the Town of Rawa Ruska from 1942 to 1944 ............................ pp.---

(iv) Osidach as a Participant Under § 13.............pp.---

(B) Misrepresentation of a Material Fact Under § 10 of the DPA ... pp.---

III. CONCEALMENT OR MISREPRESENTATION OF A MATERIAL

FACT IN SECURING CITIZENSHIP ........................ pp.---

IV. CONCLUSION...........................................pp.---

APPENDIX..................................................pp.---

ORDER

Presently before the Court is a denaturalization action filed by the United States as plaintiff, pursuant to section 340(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, as amended, 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a): to revoke and set aside the district court’s order admitting defendant Wolodymir Osidach (“Osidach”) as a United States citizen; and, to cancel his certificate of naturalization (number 8633492) which was issued pursuant to that order. Jurisdiction is conferred upon this Court under 28 U.S.C. § 1345, and 8 U.S.C. §§ 1421(a), 1451(a).

The Government stands on two major theories, each with several minor subcomponents, upon which it bases its case seeking the denaturalization of Osidach. Both theories are founded upon § 1451(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, 8 U.S.C. § 1451(a) (“INA”), which provides:

(a) It shall be the duty of the United States attorneys for the respective dis *57 tricts, upon affidavit showing good cause therefor, to institute proceedings in any court specified in subsection (a) of section 1421 of this title in the judicial district in which the naturalized citizen may reside at the time of bringing suit, for the purpose of revoking and setting aside the order admitting such person to citizenship and canceling the certificate of naturalization on the ground that such order and certificate of naturalization were illegally procured or were procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation, and such revocation and setting aside of the order admitting such person to citizenship and such canceling of certificate of naturalization shall be effective as of the original date of the order and certificate, respectively: Provided, That refusal on the part of a naturalized citizen within a period of ten years following his naturalization to testify as a witness in any proceeding before a congressional committee concerning his subversive activities, in a case where such person has been convicted of contempt for such refusal, shall be held to constitute a ground for revocation of such person’s naturalization under this subsection as having been procured by concealment of a material fact or by willful misrepresentation. If the naturalized citizen does not reside in any judicial district in the United States at the time of bringing such suit, the proceedings may be instituted in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or in the United States district court in the judicial district in which such person last had his residence.

The two major theories advanced by the Government are: (1) Osidach illegally procured his citizenship; and/or, (2) Osidach willfully misrepresented and/or concealed certain material facts from the immigration authorities at the time he procured his grant of citizenship. The Government contends that it should prevail under either or both theories. It must be kept in mind that, despite the content of the allegations and counter-allegations, this case is not a criminal case but a civil case; accordingly, these theories are necessarily dependent upon common elements of fact which must be proven by the Government by what the United States Supreme Court has recently described as “clear, unequivocal and convincing evidence” which “does not leave the issue in doubt.” Fedorenko v. United States, - U.S.--, -, 101 S.Ct. 737, 747, 66 L.Ed.2d 686 (1981), quoting Schneiderman v. United States, 320 U.S. 118, 125, 63 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
513 F. Supp. 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-osidach-paed-1981.