Boļeslavs Maikovskis (21 January 1904 – 19 April 1996) was a Latvian Nazi collaborator who served as chief of police for the second precinct of

Rēzekne Rēzekne (, ; German: ''Rositten'') is a state city in the Rēzekne River valley in Latgale region of eastern Latvia. It is called ''The Heart of Latgale'' (Latvian ''Latgales sirds'', Latgalian ''Latgolys sirds''). Built on seven hills, Rēzekn ...

while the Germans occupied Latvia in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. After the war Maikovskis went to Austria before reaching the United States in 1951 where he served on a subcommittee of the

Committee to Re-elect the President A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

during Richard M. Nixon's 1972 campaign. Maikovskis lied on his US visa application when asked whether he had "been complicit in the persecutions of others during World War II". That question was removed from the application the year after Maikovskis emigrated to the United States. Maikovskis lived in Mineola, New York, for 36 years, where he was active in Latvian organizations, and worked as a carpenter until his retirement. In 1965, Maikovskis was wanted for trial, and was tried and sentenced to death ''in absentia'', in his former Latvia (by the then Soviet Union). His crimes were detailed in a late 1970s ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' Sunday show. Maikovskis was previously featured in the book ''Wanted: The Search for Nazis in America'', by Howard Blum (1977 & 1989). The original publisher, Fawcett Books, was a CBS News affiliate. The Soviet Union, which had no extradition treaty with the United States, demanded his extradition. The United States refused, but the Immigration and Naturalization Service started an investigation whose hearings, court actions and appeals lasted more than 20 years. During this time, Maikovskis became the target of anti-Nazi vigilantes. In August 1978, he was shot in the right knee at his home. In 1979, a man stabbed a person whom he mistook for Maikovskis. In September 1981, Maikovskis's home was bombed by the

Jewish Defense League The Jewish Defense League (JDL) is a Jewish far-right religious-political organization in the United States and Canada, whose stated goal is to "protect Jews from antisemitism by whatever means necessary". It has been classified as "a right w ...

. Maikovskis fled from the U.S. in 1987, after his deportation to the Soviet Union became a certainty. He settled in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

after secretly convincing a diplomatic official to grant him a visa. In October 1988, Maikovskis was arrested as a suspected war criminal. He was held in a prison hospital until the fall of 1992. Maikovskis was simultaneously prosecuted in the German judicial system, but the case was dropped on health grounds in 1994. He died in

Münster Münster (; nds, Mönster) is an independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a state distr ...

in 1996, aged 92, from a heart attack.Thomas, Robert McG
“Boleslavs Maikovskis, 92; Fled War-Crimes Investigation”.
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. 8 May 1996; retrieved 4 December 2009.

References

1904 births 1996 deaths People from Rezhitsky Uyezd Latvian collaborators with Nazi Germany Latvian emigrants to the United States Latvian expatriates in Germany Holocaust perpetrators in Latvia Nazis sentenced to death in absentia People sentenced to death in absentia by the Soviet Union Loss of United States citizenship by prior Nazi affiliation {{Latvia-bio-stub Latvian prisoners and detainees Shooting survivors Prisoners and detainees of Germany

See also

References