91-Year-Old Convicted Nazi Death Camp Guard Dies
- Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:51am by
Madeleine Morgenstern
- Print »
- Email »
German police say John Demjanjuk, who was charged with 28,060 counts of accessory to murder and convicted last year of serving as a Nazi death camp guard, has died. (AP File)
BERLIN (AP) — John Demjanjuk, a retired U.S. autoworker who was convicted of being a guard at the Nazis’ Sobibor death camp despite steadfastly maintaining over three decades of legal battles that he had been mistaken for someone else died Saturday, his son told The Associated Press. He was 91.
Demjanjuk, convicted in May of 28,060 counts of being an accessory to murder and sentenced to five years in prison, died a free man in a nursing home in the southern Bavarian town of Bad Feilnbach. He had been released pending his appeal.
John Demjanjuk Jr. said in a telephone interview from Ohio that his father died in the night of natural causes. Demjanjuk had terminal bone marrow disease, chronic kidney disease and other ailments.
It was not yet known whether he would be brought back to the U.S. for burial.
Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk (dehm-YAHN’-yook) had steadfastly denied any involvement in the Nazi Holocaust since the first accusations were levied against him more than 30 years ago.
“My father fell asleep with the Lord as a victim and survivor of Soviet and German brutality since childhood,” Demjanjuk Jr. said. “He loved life, family and humanity. History will show Germany used him as a scapegoat to blame helpless Ukrainian POWs for the deeds of Nazi Germans.”
His conviction helped set new German legal precedent, being the first time someone was convicted solely on the basis of serving as a camp guard, with no evidence of being involved in a specific killing.
Despite his conviction, his family never gave up its battle to have his U.S. citizenship reinstated so that he could live out his final days nearby them in the Cleveland area. One of their main arguments was that the defense had never seen a 1985 FBI document, uncovered in early 2011 by The Associated Press, calling into question the authenticity of a Nazi ID card used against him.
Demjanjuk maintained that he was a victim of the Nazis himself – first wounded as a Soviet soldier fighting German forces, then captured and held as a prisoner of war under brutal conditions.
“I am again and again an innocent victim of the Germans,” he told the panel of Munich state court judges during his 18-month trial, in a statement he signed and that was read aloud by his attorney Ulrich Busch.
He said after the war he was unable to return to his homeland, and that taking him away from his family in the U.S. to stand trial in Germany was a “continuation of the injustice” done to him.
“Germany is responsible for the fact that I have lost for good my whole reason to live, my family, my happiness, any future and hope,” he said.
His claims of mistaken identity gained credence after he successfully defended himself against accusations initially brought in 1977 by the U.S. Justice Department that he was “Ivan the Terrible” – a notoriously brutal guard at the Treblinka extermination camp.
In connection with the allegation, he was extradited to Israel from the U.S. in 1986 to stand trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, convicted and sentenced to death. But the Israeli Supreme Court in 1993 overturned the verdict on appeal, saying that evidence showed another Ukrainian man was actually “Ivan the Terrible,” and ordered him returned to the U.S.
The Israeli judges said, however, they still believed Demjanjuk had served the Nazis, probably at the Trawniki SS training camp and Sobibor. But they declined to order a new trial, saying there was a risk of violating the law prohibiting trying someone twice on the same evidence.
Demjanjuk returned to his suburban Cleveland home in 1993 and his U.S. citizenship, which had been revoked in 1981, was reinstated in 1998.
Demjanjuk remained under investigation in the U.S., where a judge revoked his citizenship again in 2002 based on Justice Department evidence suggesting he concealed his service at Sobibor. Appeals failed, and the nation’s chief immigration judge ruled in 2005 that Demjanjuk could be deported to Germany, Poland or Ukraine.
Prosecutors in Germany filed charges in 2009, saying Demjanjuk’s link to Sobibor and Trawniki was clear, with evidence showing that after he was captured by the Germans he volunteered to serve with the fanatical SS and trained as a camp guard.
Though there are no known witnesses who remember Demjanjuk from Sobibor, prosecutors referred to an SS identity card that they said features a photo of a young, round-faced Demjanjuk and that says he worked at the death camp. That and other evidence indicating Demjanjuk had served under the SS convinced the panel of judges in Munich, and led to his conviction.
He was ordered tried in Munich because he lived in the area briefly after the war.
Demjanjuk, who was removed by U.S. immigration agents from his home in suburban Cleveland and deported in May 2009, questioned the evidence in the German case, saying the identity card was possibly a Soviet postwar forgery.
He reiterated his contention that after he was captured in Crimea in 1942, he was held prisoner until joining the Vlasov Army – a force of anti-communist Soviet POWs and others formed to fight with the Germans against the Soviets in the final months of the war.
Demjanjuk was born April 3, 1920, in the village of Dubovi Makharintsi in central Ukraine, two years before the country became part of the Soviet Union. He grew up during a time when the country was wracked by famines that killed millions, and a wave of purges instituted by Stalin to eliminate any possible opposition.
As a young man Demjanjuk worked as a tractor driver for the area’s collective farm. After being called up for the Soviet Red Army, he was wounded in action but sent back to the front after he had recovered, only to be captured during the battle of Kerch Peninsula in May 1942.
After the war, Demjanjuk was sent to a displaced persons camp and worked briefly as a driver for the U.S. Army. In 1950, he sought U.S. citizenship, claiming to have been a farmer in Sobibor, Poland, during the war.
Demjanjuk later said he lied about his wartime activities to avoid being sent back to Ukraine, then a part of the Soviet Union. Just to have admitted being in the Vlasov Army would also have been enough to have him barred from emigration to the U.S. or many other countries.
He came to the U.S. on Feb. 9, 1952, and eventually settled in Seven Hills, a middle-class suburb of Cleveland.
He was a mechanic at Ford Motor Co.’s engine plant in the Cleveland suburb of Brook Park and with his wife, Vera, raised three children – son John Jr. and daughters Irene and Lydia.
Popular Stories
MSNBC Host Snaps in Heated Segment: ‘What in the World Is Riskier Than Being a Poor Person in America?’ 679 Comments
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 636 Comments
‘Jumah at the DNC’ Speaker: ‘Muslims Visited America Prior to Columbus’ & ‘It Was a Muslim’ Who Guided Him to the ‘New World’ 523 Comments
Obama: RNC Like Watching ‘Black-and-White TV’ Because Romney ‘Did Not Offer a Single New Idea’ 360 Comments
Have You Seen the Giant ‘Sand Obama’ Sculpture in Charlotte? 311 Comments
Faith
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 134 Comments- Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More
- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 184 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 146 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 300 Comments
Scathing New Ad Capitalizes on Rep. Ryan‘s ’Fading Obama Posters’ Remark 124 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 134 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (58)
Nemo13
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:58pmThere were only accusations of this man, no proof. Too easy to just simply charge someone who ‘may’ have been involved. Absolute insanity. Lust for revenge, that is all it is. Make damn sure you have solid evidence before you start ruining lives.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 10:02pmYour suggesting that we put the Democrats out of business? Sounds good to me.
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 5:29pmI don’t doubt there were sadistic people running some camps and many were killed for no reason. If one was killed…then it would still be murder. However….I have a hard time getting my head around gassing 6 million jews. The gas ‘chambers’ were small. There is no residual gas or other poisons on the walls of the ‘chambers’ and they were not air tight. Most were killed by malnutrition and typhus. Some were shot…no doubt. Especially Russians. The bodies were burned because the typhus was so contagious.The ‘gas chambers” were delousing halls….
Report Post »OutOnTheTiles
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 4:46pmLuke 16:24-25
Report Post »24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
Gourdy
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 3:39pmAt that age, he’s got to be one of the last Nazi war criminals around. With all the vets (on all sides of WWII), the Holocaust survivors, and other direct victims dying off too many stories will be lost. A year before she died, I decided to video tape my mother talking about service as a WAC during WWII. I highly recommend everyone record as much of that personal history as you can. Check out the Veterans History Project online for tips. Don’t wait!!
Report Post »right-wing-waco
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 4:40pmWow, that is a great idea. You are correct that as these last survivors of WW2 die, so dies the memories and history. Thanks for sharing that idea.
Report Post »Warrior4Zion
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 9:50amWe need to be sure to make sure we execute every last nazi there is on the planet for the sake of the chosen people! The deserve because they have been persecuted because people are jealous of their success.
Report Post »symphonic
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 3:12pmThere’s a good reason Jesus said JUDGE NOT lest ye be judged. Seems when people do, like they do here (vast majority of comments), they come across as totally stupid and ignorant. There is NO WAY you know the innocence or guilt of this man. He says he’s innocent, you say he’s guilty, I say how do you know? You don’t, so leave it to God, who really DOES know what happened, and He’s going to remember you too judging when He told you not to do that.
Just saying.
Report Post »thegreatcarnac
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 3:12pmSome of these concentration camp guards had no choice…they were forced into those positions. Furthermore….if the Germans were so exceedingly bad to their captives (as a whole)…why for instance, did the captives voluntarily follow retreating German soldiers rather than be ‘liberated’ by the Russians? Don’t tell me this did not happen…I know it did…I graduated in History from college.
Report Post »Patrick Henry II
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 4:35pmI don’t care if they were “forced” to murder millions. They are still guilty of murder.
Report Post »I do NOT know if this guy was guilty or not.
But that “forced” argument does NOT fly. They should have choose death before murduring 28000 people or even better took out as many of the bad guys they could before meeting death.
TROONORTH
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:12pmTHEGREATCARNAC concentration inmates were left behind for the Russians to feed and care for as a way of taxing their resources. Military detainees were force marched west because trained military personnel, like military equipment could have been of use to the Russians as they over ran Germany. Did they give you a degree at the “Col. Harland Saunders College of Chicken Knowledge”?
Report Post »00gabooga
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 3:06pmI‘m glad I’m going to confession tomorrow because right now my heart is full of joy and grim satisfaction about the death of this Nazi P.O.S. Burn in hell!
Report Post »Funkhouser
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 10:59amAmen!
Report Post »Taxpayer550
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 2:37pmNow PERFECT justice will be served!
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 2:59pm“His conviction helped set new German legal precedent, being the first time someone was convicted solely on the basis of serving as a camp guard, with no evidence of being involved in a specific killing.”
Strange definition of justice. Even the Zionist state of Israel thought so: “He was deported to Israel in 1986 to stand trial for war crimes, after being identified by Israeli Holocaust survivors as “Ivan the Terrible”,[3] a notorious prisoner/guard (KAPO) at the Treblinka and Sobibor extermination camps. He was accused of committing murder and acts of extraordinarily savage violence against camp prisoners during 1942–43. He was convicted for crimes against humanity and sentenced to death there in 1988, but this verdict was later overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1993 due to a finding of reasonable doubt based on evidence suggesting that this was a case of mistaken identity, that Demjanjuk was not “Ivan the Terrible” and had instead been a guard at other camps.[4] After the trial, in September 1993, he returned to his home in Ohio.”
Report Post »http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Demjanjuk
circleDwagons
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 3:31pmpretty scary, 5 ten 10 years are Americans going to be Quilty of being in iraq or afganistan?
GOD BLESS his family
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 2:20pmWell at least he will be warm where he is going. 28000+ counts of murder; that must be a record conviction. Obviously, if you can garner that many convictions, GOD was not 1st on his list. I wonder how many Jewish people are in a secret celebration?
Report Post »CCTXCN
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 1:41pmThe People see a old scared man and forget the monster that he was! he was part of Turing the devil lose on the world and history is repeating itself and the devil is lose again!
Report Post »ARMED AND READY
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 1:13pmJohn Demjanjuk, a retired U.S. autoworker , U.A.W. , commie…..
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 1:34pmA lack of Real Justice… for the Crimes!
Report Post »SpankDaMonkey
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 12:43pm.
Boy!, I wonder what his eternity is gonna be like?………….
Sucks to be you……….
Report Post »Copo
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 12:22pmI hope you’re overestimating the holodomer alone, because overall Stalin’s regime directly killed at least 60,000,000, and probably about 100,000,000. Those numbers also don’t include people who starved to death simply because of impoverishment caused by communism, which would bring the number up to about 200,000,000.
Report Post »coryf076
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 11:38amSorry Tom…the truth shall set you free….do some independent research. It’s not hate at all, I’m not anti-semitic at all…see that’s the problem right there, everyone is afraid to have an honest debate because they will immediately be labeled as anti-semitic, racist, Nazi, hater, or whatever they can come up with…I am none of those things. Don’t trust the numbers you are fed and repeated in every publication, television show, movie, school. The numbers are much much lower than stated, and Jews had been claiming a holocaust and that 6 million jews died before, during and after WW1, years before hitler or the Nazi or concentration camps….the story then carried over to WW2 with Hitler and is perpetuated to this day.
Report Post »BonnieBlueFlag
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 1:36pmCory,
How right you are. To this day there has not been any physical evidence given that Germans targeted Jews for death. They were interned, sure, but many countries have done so in the past.
The only “evidence” given is torture-extracted confessions and outrageous testimony which itself many times can be proven false (like human lampshades, human soap, torture of babies, etc.)
If that is all the evidence needed to establish truth, then the blood libel of human sacrifice by Jews throughout the middle ages also qualifies as there are court confessions and witness testimony. But the ADL tells us those stories can’t possibly be true because they are too ridiculous- but they are the same as stories about Germans! The more shocking the claim, the more evidence is required.
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 2:47pmBonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie. I guess all the pictures and confessions are just made up? I can’t believe HOW IGNORANT some of you are; oh wait yes, I can; you are LIBERALS who deny everything and anything. IT is NEVER your fault, you are always a VICTIM.
You can deny it all you want, play the victim and live ignorant lives; when the _________ hits the fan you only have yourselves to blame.
Report Post »patriotmom1776
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 3:35pmUmm, Bonnie, I guess you like to push buttons.
I don’t know if you are really that ignorant, or that stupid, but either way, it is clear that you believe a lie. Nazi’s DID murder and exterminate Jews, and it is foolish to toss a word bomb out there by saying it ain’t so.
If you really want to prove everyone wrong, please buy a ticket to Germany and visit Auschwitz and the other horrible places this occurred. Walk through the ruins, and talk with survivors, and then tell us how it didn’t happen.
Foolish old crone.
Report Post »creativ31
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:53pmI’m personally glad those two above spoke up.
A tribe that gets persecuted everywhere it goes must be doing something wrong when no other nationality (and the Jews are a nationality) when coming in contact with so many others, gets even remotely close to being hated near-universally by everyone.
Report Post »tzion
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:36pm“The only “evidence” given is torture-extracted confessions and outrageous testimony which itself many times can be proven false (like human lampshades, human soap, torture of babies, etc.)”
Well where’s your evidence then? I’ve been to Poland and seen the camps myself. I listened to the stories of survivors firsthand. Surely if everything you’re saying is true there would be conclusive evidence to show for it. Where did the pictures taken by US soldiers of the camps they liberated come from in this fantasy of yours? Is their testimony also a lie? Even this man who died admitted the Nazis were evil. He even publicly blames them for his suffering. I don‘t know if he’s guilty or not and right now I don’t care because at least he was capable of acknowledging what happened.
Report Post »creativ31
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:54pmSo photos can’t be doctored?
Report Post »BonnieBlueFlag
Posted on March 18, 2012 at 12:46am@Tzion, Patriot and Cofemale
1) Calling names like liberal and old crone is an ad hominem attack: a logical fallacy
2) I do not say that the so-named Holocaust did not happen, only that there is no proof.
3) No person can prove a negative, including myself. If I say to you “Prove conclusively that parakeets DID NOT ever land in Antarctica” you can never do so. It is an onus upon the person asserting that parakeets DID land in Antarctica to prove so.
4) “Everyone knows the Holocaust is real” is the logical fallacy ad populum.
5) There are pictures of European prisoners in camps. They look better than American POWs looked in Japanese camps. http://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/POW%20Photos.htm
6) To kill the number of people claimed is theoretically impossible. At most, they had enough “poison” (lice pesticide), fuel, and time to murder 1/6 of the number claimed. Even if they did, it would be 24 hour killing and burning of bodies which is not shown by smoke in any of our aerial footage of the camps during their operation.
7) Stalinist Soviet Union took over the only camps which are claimed to be “death camps.” The Soviets immediately shot the officers, and later waged outrageous allegations. It has been proved and agreed by historians that Soviets faked at least SOME evidence.
I love Jewish people. I hope nothing like the allegations ever happened or ever does happen to them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXKHw0EZrqM&feature=player_e
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 11:24amThat’s about the most IGNURNT, HATEFUL post I have ever read.
Report Post »Considering who we elected to be our current President, I shouldn’t be surprised there would be a holocaust denier around.
SamIamTwo
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 11:02amToo bad we weren’t able to put Hitler on trial…some nutters think he was or is still alive. Dunno Don’t care.
Simply remember what creeps like Hitler and his gang did and not repeat the sins of the past.
Get Obama and the fringe far left out of office now for forever give up what little rights you currently have…
Report Post »db321
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 11:18amSamIamTwo – Too bad we weren’t able to put Hitler on trial
God is going to put Hitler on Trial on Judgement Day – Life sentence = Eternally! What does it profit a man to gain the World and loose his soul!
Report Post »fountains
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 10:59amPray for Israel. If this man was innocent, may he rest in peace. If this man was guilty, he will suffer eternally if he has not asked God for mercy.
Report Post »The American People
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:47amBye Nazi filth
Report Post »Tandem2011
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:30amThis is when you want to have faith (not based on delusion) that there is a God and an afterlife where evil people can no longer escape justice.
Report Post »RepubliCorp
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:22am1) If Demjanjuk gave a million dollars to Demorat party all this would have gone away.
Report Post »2) If he was Mexican no one could ask or question his status
lynnissmart
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:20amGoody, goody!
Report Post »macpappy
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:17amOff Topic:
Report Post »We caught this on an Atlanta station last week. I can not believe this has not been on TheBlaze, Fox, or even the conservative talk shows on XM. This is unbelievable news.
Billions of your tax dollars used to build and remodel mosque all over the muslim world. Good Will? or paying homage to his God? You gotta watch the video.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/mosque-makeovers-with-your-tax-dollars/nD9db/
Mikev5
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:35amThis is just tossing money down the drain how crazy is this administration these people don’t give a damn even if we try to bribe them to like us they will still want kill us.
Report Post »skiz
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:42amUnbelievable! The whole world is upside down! I could care less about a mosque in egypt. It only proves one thing…our president is a muslim!
Report Post »AmazingGrace8
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 11:00am@skiz
The president a muslim? I don’t know. Go back to the 1967 boundaries? Today, Gaza is home to Hamas and from the very land that Israel vacated, now there are missiles being launched at Israel’s citizens, just about every day of the week. The president strangely silent! THIS IS THE MIDNIGHT HOUR! The Iran regime has said and will-do-what-they-said-they-will- do and that is kill every Jew. Humm..thought process. The president’s “lukewarm” attitude towards the advancement of Iran/Nuclear program. Eliminate Israel and every Jew on this planet..the supposed “Abraham covenant” with God will be destroyed & forgotten & there is only “one” religion for the world.
Report Post »I pray everyday for Israel and all Jewish people around the world and BECAUSE……………..
Magyar
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:12amYea, yea, heard it before—with his Lord and Savior? MMMM somehow I have my doubts.
Report Post »skiz
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:12amUS auto worker=nazi death camp guard. Makes perfect since!
Report Post »I thought the holocaust didnt happen???????
philipzhao
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:13pmI thought Pearl Harbor didn’t exist !!
Report Post »JACKTHETOAD
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:11amYou just know ‘Ivan The Terrible’ was backshooting those poor souls at Sobibor as they were running through the minefields during the mass escape there. Off to hell with him, the lying Nazi POS.
Report Post »