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.
Of course he was. He delivered the keynote speech at the 1992 convention, his culture war speech, which was widely acclaimed. This after his tepid dabbling in Holocaust denial. And yes, plenty of Republicans recognized the mistake, and felt it contributed to the Bush defeat. Just as plenty applauded it. He wasn’t drummed out of the party, he left.
I never said I agreed with the link only that that had a good summary of the case
He left because he didn't feel welcome, because too many Republicans didn't particularly care to be associated with him, nor did too many support him in the GOP primaries that year. He felt like he could make more noise as a third party candidate. And, as far as many Republicans are concerned, good riddance!
By sharp contrast, prominent antisemites in the 'Rat party are still active, hold high offices, and seem to be highly regarded in party circles.
I agree with you !
Being from Cleveland this story is one I have followed from it’s inception. This case has been bungled from the beginning by US/Israeli/German/Russian authorities but they kept coming after him in what seems to be a case of quadruple jeopardy. If he truly is whatever they want to call him today, he has been in his own prison for the last 30 years and due to his advanced age and extremely poor health his final reckoning is coming soon. Leave the man alone.
And yes, I am the son of concentration camp parents.
Was he? My understsanding was that he was NOT Ivan the Terrible. And all of this evidence is pretty iffy, according to my understanding of it, so far.
At any event, they’ve have their crack at this guy, and unless the evidence is absolutelly conclusive, maybe they should work on current genocides.
Triblinka and Sobibor are only about 60 miles apart, he could easily have served at both. Witness’ aside, there are German records of his posting to at Sobibor and Flossberg. The non-witness evidence of his posting at Treblinka came from records of Ivan and later testimony from the trials of other SS Wachman in the Soviet Union, who testified to the presence of both an Ivan Marchenko (the name he used as his mother’s maiden name when entering the US)and an Ivan Demjanjuk and an Ivan Marchenko at Treblinka, that testimony indicating that the gas chambers were operated by Marchenko, thus the doubt that he was Ivan the Terrible, the Israeli court relied on in dismissing his conviction. But the same testimony also indicating Ivan Demjanjuk was there. It’s worth noting that the US courts have consistantly held he was a camp guard at Sobibor and Flossberg, Treblinka being open to doubt. Also the Israeli decision is frequently misrepresented. Like Eichman he was charged with crimes against humanity, Israel doesn’t normally prosecute run of the mill Nazis, and as a camp guard he didn’t rise to the crimes against humanity standard. The prosecution took the opposite position. But the role of criminal prosecution usually falls to the nations involved. It’s also worth noting that the US doesn’t prosecute these crimes either, it’s strictly an immigration case, we deport them.
I tend to agree. They knew.
Regardless of whether he left or not, the pudgy little Nazi-apologist sits on MSNBC as the face of “conservatism” and writes a “conservative” column.
Yes, Pat is sometimes astute. And VWs, Porsches, the autobahn, and modern rocketry were amazing contributions to the world by Hitler.
Pat is a disgusting little Nazi prick who has no place in polite company.
The RNC would go a long way in shaking its image of “intolerance” and “bigotry” (an image it has unfairly, I think, but it is the image) —— by big Conservative names -— Palin, Newt, Fred Thompson calling Pat Buchanon out and expressly belittling him.
The RNC has been far too polite in tolerating Pat for fear of alienating the soft bigoted element (er, I mean Paleoconservative) of the RNC.
Call Pat a bigot. Go on the attack. Be visible.
Refuse to be on shows with him — etc.
Conservatives need to be VISIBLY what they ARE -— campaigners for equal rights -— REAL equal rights, not welfare special rights.
Part of doing this is attacking REAL bigotry where you find it -— starting at home.
And aside from his MSNBC, appears frequently on radio talk shows to promote “conservative” positions on immigration and culture. I’m sure no minorities other than Jews notice. With a pro-immigration President, and a high profile pro-immigration candidate, the Hispanic vote shifted to 2 to 1 dem.
Perhaps it is wishful thinking, but I just get the distinct impression that young Jews are chomping at the bit to be Republicans.
We just need to get rid of the theocrats and paleocons.
Wishful thinking? I wish I could sell you a ocean side and skiing resort condo in Kansas for only $500. It's going really cheap right now, due to the real estate crash, so don't miss your chance!.
IOW, click your heels together, Dorothy, because a miracle that large won't happen otherwise.
Just as an amusing TRUE story; I went into my local Shell station the day after the election, and the clerk on duty is a LEGAL Korean immigrant.
We'd both agreed earlier that we were voting for McCain, and she let me have it.
She said, "You whites, you split your vote! Blacks voted 100% for Obama, but you whites split the vote! That is why Obama win!
So of course I asked her how the Asian American vote went and she wouldn't answer me.
FACT: The Israeli Supreme Court considered claims that he was in Sobibor instead but found no evidence,
http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/people/d/demjanjuk-john/israeli-data/demjanjuk-s4.html
This is despite the fact that leftist commie scum probably killed his first lawyer and nearly blinded his second lawyer with acid.
http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/1996/299607.shtml
Quit spreading Kremlin propaganda.
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