SS-Schütze

* 06.03.1914 in Mali Radinci
letzter bekannter Wohnort:
La Puente (USA)

Volksdeutscher aus Kroatien

Volksschule

Beruf: Landwirt

ab 19.10.1942
Mitglied der Bewaffneten Verbände der SS

vor 1945 Angehöriger der Lagermannschaft im KL
Auschwitz u. NL Eintrachthütte

19.10.1942
Beförderung zum SS-Schützen

20.03.1956
Auswanderung in die USA

22nd December 1987
La Puente Man Faces Deportation as ex-Nazi
The government initiated deportation proceedings today against a La Puente, California, man claimed that he is pursuing unarmed civilians as a guard at Auschwitz during World War II. The Justice Department said that Josef Eckert, a native of Yugoslavia, served as a guard from 1943 to 45 in the SS Death's Head Battalion at Auschwitz. According to the records, Eckert joined the United States in 1956 under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, but never applied for U.S. citizenship.

23rd December 1987
U.S. Tries Suspected Nazi Death Camp Guard Deport
The U.S. Justice Department initiated deportation proceedings Tuesday against a retired factory worker from La Puente, claimed that he was a guard at the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, where as many as 4 million people were killed during the Second World War. Authorities said that Joseph Eckert, 73, a native of what is now Yugoslavia, the German SS was used from 1943 to 1945, and "assisted or otherwise participated in the persecution" of Auschwitz prisoners who were predominantly Jewish.

13th February 1988
La Puente is believed to be from Austria Fugitive wanted for WWII Murders
A retired factory worker from La Puente is facing deportation for allegedly indefinite atrocities during World War II committed believed, is a refugee from Austria to be wanted in this country on the war in connection with murder charges, said an Austrian official Friday. Josef Eckert, allegedly as a German SS guard at Auschwitz was, was put on a wanted list of 1960 state court officials in Vienna, according to Ulf Pacher, a spokesman for the Austrian consulate in Los Angeles.

29th September 1988
Ex-Nazi Guard Gets Deportation Notice
A U.S. immigration judge has to ask for a deportation notice that a retired factory worker who lives in La Puente for as an armed guard at a Nazi death camp, where as many as 4 million people were murdered during the Second World War to be deported served signed.

30th March 1989
The former SS Guard Deported to Austria
Josef Eckert, La Puente man federal investigators as a former Nazi SS officer at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland exposed deported to Austria, Atty. General Dick Thornburgh said Wednesday in Washington. Eckert, 65, was born in Austria and Hungary, announced last fall, his membership in the SS unit that guarded prisoners, including the arrival at the camp, as they got off the trains. During his service at the camp, millions of men, women and children were murdered.

Friday, March 31 1989
EX-GUARD AT AUSCHWITZ SAYS HE WASN'T IN CAMP
Josef Eckert said after his deportation from the United States that he was only a guard at Auschwitz death camp during World War II and did not know what happened inside, a news report said.

Eckert, 65, who had been living in La Puente, Calif., flew into Salzburg's airport Thursday night from Zurich, Switzerland, on an Austrian Airlines flight.The US resident for 30 years admitted Sept. 27 that he served in the SS guard unit assigned to Auschwitz, where he guarded prisoners. Millions of people were murdered during his tenure there.

However, The Austria Press Agency reported that Eckert said upon his arrival here that he never served inside a concentration camp, was only a member of a guard unit, and did not know what happened inside.

It was not clear if Eckert was retracting any part of earlier statements he made in the United States.

Speaking on Austrian television, he said Thursday night he had served "outside the (Auschwitz) camp," but he did not elaborate.

US Justice Department spokesman Loye Miller said Wednesday that Eckert flew out of the United States Tuesday night but missed his connecting flight in London when he fell asleep at Heathrow airport. Instead, said Miller, he flew to Salzburg via Zurich on Thursday.

Eckert concealed his Auschwitz service from US immigration officials when he obtained a visa to come to the United States in 1956, the department said. At the time, he was living in Austria.

The department's Office of Special Investigations negotiated with Austria to arrange Eckert's return and Austria agreed last December.

An Austrian Justice Ministry spokesman said Eckert will be questioned here about his wartime activities.

Gerichtsverfahren nach 1945
LG Wien
27c Vr 5193/60