Opinion ID: 202113
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: After Warsaw

Text: 13 After the Warsaw operation, the Trawniki men returned to their home base. However, in July 1944, due to the approach of the Soviet Army, the Germans hurriedly evacuated Trawniki and the surrounding area. The commandant of the Trawniki Training Camp, Karl Streibel, organized the Trawniki men into a unit bearing his name, the SS Battalion Streibel. From August 1944 until January 1945, the SS Battalion Streibel served in central Poland along the Nida River. Some of its members forced Polish civilians to work on construction projects such as fortifications, roads, and airfields, although surviving records do not establish that Zajanckauskas did so. 14 In January 1945, the SS Battalion Streibel retreated into Germany until it reached the area of Dresden. Zajanckauskas served with the SS Battalion Streibel until March 4, 1945. In April 1945, the unit disintegrated after retreating into the territory of the present-day Czech Republic in the face of the Allied advance. 15 In 1949 or early 1950, Zajanckauskas sought a determination from the United States Displaced Persons Commission (DPC) that he was eligible to receive an immigrant visa under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 (DPA), 62 Stat. 1009. 3 In seeking this determination from the DPC, Zajanckauskas told American officials that he had lived and worked on his parents' farm in Lithuania from 1938 until 1944; that he fled to Dresden, arriving there in November 1944; and that he then went to Austria where he worked as a farmhand and laborer. The requested determination was granted. 16 On January 24, 1950, Zajanckauskas filed an Application for Immigration Visa and Alien Registration with the United States Consulate in Salzburg, Austria in order to receive a visa to enter the United States under the DPA. On his visa application, Zajanckauskas stated that he was in Lithuania from 1929 until 1944; in Poland from February to October 1944; in Germany from October 1944 to February 1945; and in Austria since March 1945. Based on these statements, Zajanckauskas was issued a DPA visa, which he used to enter the United States in February 1950. In April 1956, Zajanckauskas applied for United States citizenship, and in June 1956, the Massachusetts Superior Court granted his application and issued to him a Certificate of Naturalization.