While staying away from the question of whether or not retired autoworker and immigrant from the Ukraine John Demjanjuk was "Ivan the Terrible," a US Federal Appeals court determined that Demjanjuk was in fact a guard at Nazi concentration camps. Thus, the court upheld a 2002 determination made by a Cleveland district federal court judge, which stripped the 84-year-old Ukrainian of his US citizenship, obtained under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948. Demjanjuk's attorney's argued he was a prisoner during WWII, not a guard.
Demjanjuk was originally identified in 1977 by the US Justice Department as "Ivan the Terrible," a particularly sadistic Nazi guard at the Treblinka death camp in occupied Poland. As such, he was extradited to Israel for prosecution where he was initially convicted, in 1988, of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the Jewish People. He was sentenced to be hanged, but the Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1993, saying that the evidence did not support a conclusion that Demjanjuk was "Ivan the Terrible."
The released Ukrainian returned to Cleveland. His US citizenship was reinstated in 1998, but it was again revoked in 2002 when the US Justice Department claimed that while he may not be "Ivan the Terrible," sufficient evidence exists to place him as a guard at death camps other than Treblinka.
The American-born branch of the Demjanjuk family and John Demjanjuk's lawyer said they are exploring a rehearing at the appeals level or an appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Demjanjuk was originally identified in 1977 by the US Justice Department as "Ivan the Terrible," a particularly sadistic Nazi guard at the Treblinka death camp in occupied Poland. As such, he was extradited to Israel for prosecution where he was initially convicted, in 1988, of war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against the Jewish People. He was sentenced to be hanged, but the Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 1993, saying that the evidence did not support a conclusion that Demjanjuk was "Ivan the Terrible."
The released Ukrainian returned to Cleveland. His US citizenship was reinstated in 1998, but it was again revoked in 2002 when the US Justice Department claimed that while he may not be "Ivan the Terrible," sufficient evidence exists to place him as a guard at death camps other than Treblinka.
The American-born branch of the Demjanjuk family and John Demjanjuk's lawyer said they are exploring a rehearing at the appeals level or an appeal to the US Supreme Court.