Vancouver

This blog is coming at you from the Pacific Palisades Hotel in downtown Vancouver.   Lorraine was on a business trip and invited me along and so along I flew.  

The mountains are definitely something awe inspiring when you first see them.   Vancouver at night is similar to what I’m sure foreigners feel about London at night, or how I feel about Piccadilly at night.   The fact that there’s a French Connection store here says a lot about the type of city it is.

Also I’ve met a lot of Yanks – all of them have been nice… but no matter where you are, you can always tell an American even when they don’t speak.

I took a walk today whilst Lorraine was in the business meeting and it started raining.   During that walk I bought what I call a ‘Spike’ tshirt.   It’s white with block black letters with a black arrow pointing downwards that says ‘Get It Here’.   If you’ve seen the movie ‘Notting Hill’ you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

Reckon  we’re going to hit a casino tonight and check out the aquarium with the whales tomorrow.

Lorraine thinks I’m crazy, but I’m determined to swim in the Pacific Ocean even though it’s probably below freezing temperature!

US deports SS ‘murder pits guard’

The US has deported to Austria a former SS man it says was involved in the Nazi killing of some 8,000 Jews, shot in a single day and buried in pits.

Josias Kumpf, 83, immigrated from Austria in 1956, settling in Wisconsin and becoming a US citizen in 1964.

The US justice department sued to strip him of his citizenship in 2003.

Confirming the deportation, Vienna said he could not be prosecuted in Austria because the statute of limitations had expired in 1965.

“We repeatedly indicated it to the United States,” justice ministry spokeswoman Katharina Swoboda told AFP news agency.

“Our hands are tied.”

‘Orders to shoot’

Mr Kumf was found to have served as a guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany and Trawniki in Poland, where the mass shooting took place in 1943.

“Josias Kumpf, by his own admission, stood guard with orders to shoot any surviving prisoners who attempted to escape an SS massacre that left thousands of Jews dead,” said acting US Assistant Attorney General Rita Glavin.

His assignment had been to watch for victims who were still “halfway alive” or “convulsing” and prevent their escape, the US justice department said.

Josias Kumpf, born in Serbia, joined the SS Death’s Head guard forces at Sachsenhausen in 1942 and served there for about a year before transferring to Trawniki, it added.

He also served at slave labour sites in Nazi-occupied France where prisoners built launching platforms for Germany’s V-1 and V-2 rockets, the justice department said.

There was no immediate comment from Mr Kumpf or his lawyer, Peter Rogers. They have in the past denied that Mr Kumpf had a role in any atrocities.