An ailing elderly Northeast man who allegedly worked in the Aus-chwitz death camp dur-ing World War II was released on $100,000 federal bail Monday. Also, Johann Breyer’s July 24 hearing to decide a German extradition request was canceled.
In a July 21 order, U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy R. Rice said he will decide if Breyer will be turned over to German authorities based on the written submissions of counsel. Philadelphia broadcast outlets reported Breyer, who is in failing health, was hospitalized over the weekend.
Breyer, of the 9400 block of Woodbridge Road, was ar-res-ted by fed-er-al au-thor-it-ies in mid-June on a re-quest for his ex-tra-di-tion to Ger-many. Ac-cord-ing to the U.S. At-tor-ney’s Phil-adelphia of-fice, a Ger-man court last year is-sued a war-rant for the ar-rest of Brey-er, also known as John Brey-er, in which he was charged with com-pli-city in the com-mis-sion of 158 counts of murder at the Aus-chwitz II-Birkenau camp in Ger-man-oc-cu-pied Po-land.
Brey-er’s ex-tra-di-tion must be ap-proved by a fed-er-al judge. Ac-cord-ing to the U.S. At-tor-ney’s of-fice, Ger-man au-thor-it-ies ac-cused Brey-er of com-pli-city in the murders of 158 train-loads of European Jew-ish de-portees.
Rice ordered Breyer to surrender his passport and firearms, and that he is to live in his personal residence or at “a suitable medical or rehabilitation facility.” ••
