A former Nazi death-squad member has failed in his attempt to bar the public and media from his deportation hearing. Helmut Oberlander brought forth an application Tuesday to take the proceedings in front of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada private. Oberlander, who lives in Waterloo, Ont., had argued he, his family and his lawyers received death threats after news articles were published about his case, thereby jeopardizing his safety. The board’s decision−maker agreed with a lawyer for the media that the argument did not reach the threshold to override the open−court principle of the proceedings. Oberlander, born in Ukraine, was a member of a Nazi death squad that operated behind the German army’s front line in the eastern occupied territories during the Second World War. The 97−year−old says he was conscripted into duty as a teenager on threat of death and that he never participated in any killings. …