Heil Eli

A Federal District Court is trying a former Yale professor on charges that he neglected to reveal his activities as a Nazi propagandist when he applied for permission to immigrate to the U.S.

Vladimir Sokolov, who taught Russian at Yale for 25 years, wrote anti-Semitic articles for Rech, a Nazi sponsored Russian language newspaper during World War II. But in order to enter the U.S., Sokolov signed statements that he had not abetted the German war effort and had never advocated racial or religious discrimination.

If convicted, the 71-year-old Sokolov would face deportation and lose his citizenship. Ten years ago, the Slavic Languages department at Yale received copies of the controversial articles and Sokolov resigned in the face of pressure from his colleagues.

Sokolov has stated that the anti-Semitic remarks in his editorials did not represent his personal views but were demanded by Nazi officials Some paragraphs were written entirely by Nazi censors, he said.

Sokolov said he only associated with the Nazis in order to combat Bolshevism in Russia and that he did not espouse all Nazi doctrines. His lawyer, Brian M. Gildea said that Rech was not taken seriously by anyone and that the prosecution had no case.

The prosecution, headed by Justice Department lawyer Joseph F. Lynch, claims that Sokolov's writing was virulently racist and that the German army awarded him medals for his work. Lynch said Sokolov's paper had a circulation of 100,000 and was therefore a highly effective propaganda weapon.