But Wilfried Nachtwei, a Green Party lawmaker who has organized private compensation payments for Baltic Jews, said that not all members of the Waffen-SS can be denied pensions under the new law.

"We cannot say that all members of the unit were involved in crimes against humanity," said Nachtwei. However, he added, the government must carefully investigate former Latvian members of the Waffen-SS because of the unit's documented crimes.