TORONTO — A Nazi-era war crime suspect stripped of his Canadian citizenship has lost his latest court appeal after a federal judge dismissed his claim he had served the Germans under duress.

Helmut Oberlander failed to show he had made any effort to leave the Nazi death squad Einsatzkommando 10a, where he was an interpreter, Justice James Russell of the Federal Court wrote in his decision.

“There was no evidence that he was mistreated and no evidence that he sought to be relieved of his duties. He served the Nazi cause for three or four years [and] surrendered at the end of the war,” he wrote.

He also “has never expressed any remorse for being a member of Ek 10a or indicated that he found the activities of the organization abhorrent. There is no evidence that what he did for the organization was inconsistent with his will.”

Mr. Oberlander has been fighting the government’s attempts to revoke his citizenship since 1995, the year Ottawa alleged he had failed to disclose his wartime past when he became a Canadian in 1960.

The case has been in and out of the courts ever since but the 83-page ruling handed down January 13 and posted on the court website on Thursday is a decisive loss for Mr. Oberlander.

“We will revoke citizenship from individuals who obtain it fraudulently to ensure that Canada is not a safe haven for fraudsters and criminals,” said Kevin Menard, spokesman for Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.

The Ukrainian-born Ontario resident was a 17-year-old factory worker when he was forcibly conscripted by the Germans. He said he was told he would be shot if he tried to escape.

But Justice Russell said he had not proven he would be killed for disobedience or desertion. “He gave no convincing evidence that he ever gave any real consideration to ways in which he might extricate or distance himself from the brutal purpose of the organization to which he contributed,” he wrote.

The decision was welcomed by the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center, which has long lobbied for action against Nazi war criminals. Avi Benlolo, the President and CEO, encouraged the government “to immediately commence deportation proceedings against Oberlander.”

Meanwhile, his daughter, Irene Rooney, said Mr. Oberlander was “not a ‘Nazi war criminal’ … He was never a Nazi, and has not been found guilty of any war crimes.”

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