(JTA) — A German prosecutor has recommended that the state pursue murder charges against a retired Minnesota carpenter, who he says is a former commander of the Nazi SS.

The Associated Press reported exclusively on Monday that Thomas Will, the deputy head of the special prosecutors’ office that investigates Nazi crimes, believes that Michael Karkoc, 94, is the same person who ordered his unit to attack a Polish village in 1944. The village was razed and dozens of men, women and children killed, according to the AP.

An AP independent investigation last summer found that Karkoc was in the area at the time of the massacres, but could not link him directly to the tragedy.

But, according to the news service, a newly discovered file on the investigation unearthed in the Ukrainian intelligence agency’s archive included testimony from a private under Karkoc’s command, Ukrainian Pvt.Ivan Sharko who said in 1968 that Karkoc had ordered the assault.

Karkoc, who entered the United States in 1949, still lives in Minneapolis.He did not disclose his position as a commander in the Ukrainian Self Defense Legion, which was led by the SS, on his application for citizenship, the AP reported.

The office of German prosecutor Thomas Will cannot file charges, but Will told the AP that this week he will ask Germany’s Federal Criminal Court to determine which state prosecutors to turn over the case. They will then review the evidence and decide whether to charge Karkoc, and whether Germany has jurisdiction.

Polish prosecutors said their investigation was ongoing.