WATERLOO — Nazi death squad member Helmut Oberlander has lost a court appeal, but there's still no end in sight in his 20-year battle to avoid deportation.

Oberlander, 90, was a decorated member of a mobile death squad that's estimated to have murdered more than 23,000 people, mostly Jews, in the Soviet Union during the Second World War.

Twice the federal cabinet stripped Oberlander of his citizenship. Twice the courts restored it. The government stripped his citizenship a third time in 2012. He challenged that again.

The Federal Court has now upheld the government's decision, rejecting Oberlander's claim that he served the Germans under duress.

"There was no evidence that he was mistreated and no evidence that he sought to be relieved of his duties," Justice James Russell wrote in his decision posted publicly Thursday.

"He served the Nazi cause for three or four years, surrendered at the end of the war, voluntarily accepted an award of the War Service Cross Second Class and voluntarily joined his mother's application for German citizenship."

Oberlander was a low-ranking interpreter who fought for Germany after it conquered his Ukrainian hometown in 1941. He later immigrated to Waterloo and became a successful developer, lying about his wartime service to gain citizenship, a judge ruled in 2000.

Oberlander has denied lying. No evidence has been presented in court that he personally participated in war crimes.

"We were obviously pleased with the decision," said Kevin Menard, spokesperson for Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander. "We will revoke citizenship from individuals who obtain it fraudulently to ensure that Canada is not a safe haven for fraudsters and criminals."

An international Nazi-hunting organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, names Oberlander among its top eight most wanted Nazi war crimes suspects.

In his decision, Russell writes that Oberlander was present when hundreds of Jews were rounded up to be murdered in Rostov, Ukraine in 1942. Oberlander, serving the Ek 10a death squad, helped interpret for a frantic woman who was caught in the roundup. The Germans spared her after she claimed not to be Jewish.

"By acting as an interpreter in this way, (Oberlander) was vital to the purposes of Ek 10a because he assisted in identifying who should be eliminated," Russell wrote.

The Record revealed the Rostov incident in 2000. Oberlander has denied it happened.

Russell wrote that Oberlander "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."

Canada launched its case against Oberlander on Jan. 27, 1995. He turns 91 next month.

Organizations that disagree strongly on his prosecution are equally frustrated by how it has proceeded.

"This case has been going for 20 years now. So much taxpayer's money has been wasted." said Ernst Friedel, a director with the German-Canadian Congress. "All he did was helping two sides to communicate, that's all."

Friedel claims broad community support for Oberlander and says Canada should stop prosecuting a man who committed no war crimes.

"When I talk to people at the bank, in the city, at the health club, everyone is in favour of him. They say, 'This is ridiculous,' what is being done here," Friedel said. "The government can stop this thing any time."

"It should not take 20 years," said Avi Benlolo, president of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center. "It's almost 'Let's wait for the person to die,' and then everybody goes home. Justice is not served when that happens."

The Toronto-based human rights organization wants Oberlander deported, possibly to Germany or to Ukraine to face trial.

"It's very upsetting to Holocaust survivors who live among us, and their families, that people who potentially are war criminals could live freely and enjoy life while so many people perished," Benlolo said.

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