Ex-Nazi prison guard faces deportation from US

WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) The United States is seeking to deport an 85-year-old German citizen who has admitted that he served as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp in World War II, authorities said.

Paul Henss, a resident of Lawrenceville, Georgia, handled attack dogs that terrorized inmates at the Dachau and Buchenwald concentration camps between 1942 and 1944, the Justice Department said in a charging document filed in the deportation case.

Henss, a Nazi Party member, volunteered for guard duty while serving in the Waffen SS, an elite military unit involved in numerous war crimes and mass murders, the document said.

While at the camps, Henss oversaw slave laborers and trained other guards to handle attack dogs which were trained to tear prisoners to pieces if they attempted to escape.

Henss admitted his guard service to investigators in March, the document said. He was not available for comment.

Henss hid his wartime activities when he moved to the United States in 1955, the Justice Department said.

A date for a deportation hearing has not yet been set.

US authorities have deported or revoked US citizenship from 106 people for Nazi war crimes since 1979, according to the Justice Department. Another 180 have been denied entry into the United States for involvement in World War II crimes.

REUTERS SZ RK0838