Jakob Reimer

Who was Jakob Reimer?

Jakob Reimer was a Trawniki camp guard who later emigrated to the United States and became a salesman and restaurant manager.

Born to German Mennonite parents in Friedensdorf, Ukraine, Reimer studied to be a librarian before being drafted into the Soviet Army in 1940. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Reimer entered combat and was captured by German forces on July 6. Two months later, he was transferred to the Trawniki concentration camp where he was trained as a camp guard.

While serving as a camp guard, Reimer participated in the liquidation of Jewish ghettos in Poland, in addition to administrative and office duties. On one occasion, Reimer fired a shot over a pit containing corpses and at least one live civilian, which would later prove pivotal in his denaturalization trial. In 1944, he received a War Meritorious Medal for his service, and was promoted to Guard First Sergeant in 1945.

In 1944, Reimer gained German citizenship after Adolf Hitler made all ethnic German military and police personnel eligible for German citizenship. He later applied for a visa to the United States in 1952 and was naturalized as a United States citizen on April 28, 1959.