Buchanan Asks Meese to Meet on Nazi Cases

White House aide Patrick Buchanan said today that he has urged Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III to meet with East European groups opposed to deporting suspected Nazi war criminals to the Soviet Union.

Meese is currently considering handing over to the Soviets Karl Linnas, an accused Nazi collaborator whose U.S. citizenship was revoked in 1981. Buchanan opposes such deportations.

Buchanan said in an interview that he sent a memorandum to Meese two weeks ago “summarizing the points made in 15,000 letters and cards that I’ve received” from Eastern European emigres to the United States.

Only Urged Meeting

“My only recommendation was that the attorney general meet with these Eastern European groups,” said Buchanan, the outgoing White House communications director.

Buchanan said that his memo “does not mention Linnas by name” but that much of the correspondence he has received specifically objects to the possibility of handing Linnas over to the Soviet Union, where he faces the death penalty.

Linnas is an immigrant from Estonia, a country annexed by the Soviets at the end of World War II. The annexation has never been officially recognized by the United States. Among the objections raised by the groups of emigres is that deporting Linnas to the Soviet Union, in effect, would validate the annexation.

“My personal view is that these trials ought to be held in the United States, Europe or Israel,” Buchanan said.

Opposed Demjanjuk Case

The White House communications director also opposed the denaturalization proceedings against John Demjanjuk, the Ukrainian accused of operating the gas chamber at Treblinka death camp in Poland.