Here he is 20 years ago.
Posted on 11/13/2008 7:54:02 AM PST by mnehring
German authorities said Monday they have enough evidence to charge John Demjanjuk with taking part in the deaths of 29,000 Jews in 1943.
German officials said they are "convinced that Demjanjuk . . . is by all means guilty of being an accessory to a vicious murder" of Jews at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, where investigators say he worked.
Investigators said they delivered a report to prosecutors in Munich to determine if Demjanjuk could stand trial in Germany. It is unclear when a decision to seek extradition will be made.
The last time German officials filed war crimes charges was in 1992, when Josef Schwammberger, a senior prison official at labor camps, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He died in 2004.
"There were points in [Demjanjuk's] case that I never thought it would happen," said Efraim Zuroff, the world's leading Nazi hunter for the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Demjanjuk's attorney, John Broadley, said he has not seen the report. But he stressed Demjanjuk is ill and frail.
He and his family have denied the Nazi allegations, claiming he is a victim of mistaken identity.
In 1983, Israel charged Demjanjuk with being "Ivan the Terrible," the guard who ran the gas chambers and tortured Jews at the Treblinka death camp.
He was convicted and sentenced to death, but the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1993 based on new evidence that became available after the fall of the Soviet Union. Some have accused Ivan Marchenko as being the guard who operated the gas chamber.
The opening of Soviet archives enabled U.S. prosecutors to uncover evidence that helped them prove Demjanjuk worked at the Sobibor death camp.
A U.S. immigrations judge ordered Demjanjuk deported from the country in 2005 because he concealed his wartime past. But no nation would take him, allowing him to remain in his Seven Hills home.
Demjanjuk came to the United States in 1952 and worked for Ford Motor Co.
German authorities, for the first time, have transport records that list the names and ages of victims taken to the camp.
"This is a big opportunity for Demjanjuk to answer for his atrocities," Kurt Schrimm, the lead investigator for Nazi war crimes in Germany, told Der Spiegel, a German publication.
John Demjanjuk Jr. told the Associated Press: "Trying [his father] again is not about justice. It is about self-serving headlines for Schrimm and his office."
Of the Nazi camps, Sobibor was one of the worst. People were taken off trains, beaten, stripped and sent to their deaths. Of the 250,000 shipped there, 50 survived.
If this bears out, Pat Buchanan is sure to issue an apology right??
I wouldn’t be shocked if Pat jumps up to defend the guy.
Also, it doesn't say what the actual evidence is. Eyewitness identification is ridiculous over 60 years later.
But no matter how old he is, if they can prove it really is him, send him to his grave. Very very late, but sooner than natural causes, at least.
They have been after Demjanjuk for 20 years, give it up. I firmly believe they have the wrong man
Pat Buchanon deeply saddened.
But maybe Pat will be able to pick up another uniform on the cheap.
“But he stressed Demjanjuk is ill and frail.”
That’s OK. It’ll be a short walk to the gallows and it’ll be his last, too.
with obama, we are going to become the facists of the past.
This is the guy that they had “witnesses” that claimed they recognized him as “Ivan the Terrible” based on his eyes, he was sentenced to death, and later told that he was not “Ivan” at all.
He was locked up for years until they had to let him go do to a lack of evidence, so I’m a touch dubious about this one, if he is guilty, then he should be meted justice, if not, the last 30 years of his life have been spent serving time for an erroneous charge.
In related articles like this one:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpvMdtVTcNcKaoBNpSksm6MfTIegD94CER7O0
..they refer to evidence from transport lists, so this isn’t just eye-witness, this is period documentation.
“I firmly believe they have the wrong man”
On what basis?
He’s 88.
He’s got to be over 90 years old now correct? They must want to put him in german jails so the people can pay for his room and board until he dies.
Sad news for Buchanan ping...Germany says Pat’s favorite Nazi is guilty of mass murder.
They actually already convicted him and sentenced him to death, then old Pat Buchanan found some eye-witness who claimed it was another guard, not Demjanjuk. This time, it appears to be period documentary evidence. Reading about how Buchanan helped get the guy off the hook back in 95, I think he is long overdue for his justice.
I favor putting him out in the cold and letting him die of exposure.
Based on the fact he was convicted in 1982 of being someone he was not, and now supposedly “new” “new” information supposedly indicts him for a completely different set of crimes?
He was convicted in 1982 and spent a decade or more in jail for war crimes he never committed.
If they were so sure he was Ivan the Terrible and had the evidence to prove it, why would anyone think this “new evidence” is credible that he’s someone else? Are they just going to keep asserting he’s some war camp guard until something sticks or he dies?
I don’t know much about this guy, but it appears that he’s being charged with crimes so bad that being innocent isn’t a defense, according to some.
88.
I have a feeling they may have some nice noose still ready for this one..he won’t be housed for long.
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