Ivan the Terrible (Treblinka guard)
"Ivan the Terrible" (born 1911) is the nickname given to a notorious guard at the
Background
Duties
Although there were more guards known as Ivan at Treblinka,
Identity
The true identity of the guard referred to as Ivan the Terrible has not been conclusively determined. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, John Demjanjuk, a retired suburban Cleveland autoworker of Ukrainian descent, was accused of being Ivan.[15] He was tried in Israel in 1988 and sentenced to death, but the conviction was overturned.[16][17]
One remarkable event during the trial in Israel involved a star witness for the prosecution, Eliyahu Rosenberg. Asked by the prosecution if he recognised Demjanjuk, Rosenberg asked Demjanjuk to remove his glasses "so I can see his eyes". Rosenberg approached and peered closely at Demjanjuk's face. When Demjanjuk smiled and offered his hand, Rosenberg recoiled and shouted, гро́зный! (Grozny!) meaning, "terrible" in Russian. "Ivan," Rosenberg said. "I say it unhesitatingly, without the slightest shadow of a doubt. It is Ivan from Treblinka, from the gas chambers, the man I am looking at now". "I saw his eyes, I saw those murderous eyes", Rosenberg told the court, glaring at Demjanjuk. Rosenberg then exclaimed directly to Demjanjuk: "How dare you put out your hand, murderer that you are!"[18] It was later revealed that Eliyahu Rosenberg had previously testified in a 1947 deposition that "Ivan the Terrible" had been killed during a prisoner uprising.[19]
On 29 July 1993, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the guilty verdict on appeal. The ruling was based on new evidence, the written statements of 37 former guards at Treblinka (some of whom had been executed by the Soviet Union, others died of old age, and could therefore not be cross-examined) that identified Ivan the Terrible as another man named Ivan Marchenko (possibly Marshenko, or Marczenko).
Gilbert S. Merritt Jr., judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, said of the OSI's handling of the Demjanjuk case: "Today we know that they – the OSI, the prosecution in the case and the State Department – lied through their teeth. Even then they knew without a doubt that Demjanjuk was not Ivan the Terrible, but they hid the information from us. I am sorry that I did not have the information at the time. If I did, we would never have ruled in favor of his extradition to Israel." Merritt claimed that what happened in his courtroom was "nothing short of a witch hunt. In retrospect, it reminds me of the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts 300 years ago. The prosecution, counseled by the OSI, presented documents and witnesses whose testimony was based on emotions and hysteria, but not hard evidence. To my regret, we believed them. This instance is a prime example of how justice can be distorted."[28]
John Demjanjuk was later extradited to Germany on charges that he was another guard by the name of Ivan Demjanjuk, who served at the Sobibor extermination camp. During the trial, the problem of identity again became a key issue. Demjanjuk claimed he was not the Ivan Demjanjuk alleged to be a guard at Sobibor, and that the Trawniki identification card supplied by the OSI to Germany, and on which the prosecution based its case, was a Soviet KGB forgery.[29] On 12 May 2011, Demjanjuk was convicted pending appeal by a German criminal court of being a guard at Sobibor extermination camp. Demjanjuk's appeal had not yet been heard by the German Appellate Court when he died in March 2012. As a consequence, the German Munich District Court declared him "presumed innocent". The court also confirmed that Demjanjuk's previous interim conviction was invalidated, and that Demjanjuk was cleared of any criminal record.[30]
See also
References
- ^ Wiernik, Yankel (1945). "5 – An Inmate Who Escaped Tells the Day-To-Day Facts of One Year of His Torturous Experiences". A Year in Treblinka. New York: American Representation of the General Jewish Workers' Union of Poland.
- ^ Haberman, Clyde (July 30, 1993). "Acquital in Jerusalem: A Mixed Verdict; Court Decision Brings Pride to Many In Israel and Dissatisfaction to Others". The New York Times. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
- ^ ISBN 0813191378. p. 38
- ISBN 0738831212
- ^ Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team. Aktion Reinhard Trawniki Staff Page.
- ISBN 0986837407. p. 35.
- ^ ISBN 0253342937. p. 21.
- ^ Mirchuk, Petro. My meetings and discussions in Israel. A Meeting with the 'Dvazhdi Geroy' (Twice-Over Hero) of Israel.
- )
- ISBN 0986837407. p. 35.
- ^ ISBN 1592132332. p. 223
- ISBN 0-253-21305-3.
Testimony of SS Scharführer Erich Fuchs in the Sobibor-Bolender trial, Düsseldorf.
- ^ McVay, Kenneth (1984). "The Construction of the Treblinka Extermination Camp". Yad Vashem Studies, XVI. Jewish Virtual Library.org. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
- ^ Alexander Kimel. "Holocaust Bystanders – The Ukrainians". Archived from the original on April 22, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
- ^ "In pictures: The story of John Demjanjuk". BBC News. May 12, 2011.
- ^ "Profile: John Demjanjuk". BBC News. November 30, 2009. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ In memory of John Demjanjuk, Kyiv Post (March 21, 2012)
- ^ Broder, Jonathan (February 26, 1987). "2d Witness Calls Demjanjuk 'Ivan The Terrible'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 8, 2012.
- ISBN 1-56639-823-1; Chapter 19. Ivan Who? Getting the Wrong Man
- ^ Nickel, Joe (2010). Unsolved History: Investigating Mysteries of the Past. University of Kentucky Press. Ch. 4
- ^ "Wprof: Lawyer Asks Demjanjuk Release". Los Angeles Times. December 31, 1990.
- ^ Williams, Daniel (December 21, 1991). "KGB Evidence Reopens the Case of 'Ivan the Terrible' : Holocaust: Recently released files bolster the appeal of the man convicted as a Nazi death camp monster". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
- ^ Deseret News, news article dated March 9, 1992. 'Ivan' Fled to Yugoslavia, Demjanjuk Defense Says; downloaded on July 5, 2012
- ^ a b Court Proceedings Extracts & Interrogations. Former Trawniki SS and Ukrainian Civilians serving in the Treblinka Death Camp. Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team.
- ^ Draaisma, Douwe (2012). Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older: How Memory Shapes Our Past, Cambridge University Press. p. 129
- ^ Hedges, Chris. Article in New York Times dated July 30, 1993. Acquittal in Jerusalem; Israel Court Sets Demjanjuk Free, But He Is Now Without a Country. Downloaded on July 4, 2012.
- ^ Raab, Scott. "John Demjanjuk: The Last Nazi". Article in Esquire Magazine dated August 11, 2010.
- ^ Melman, Yossi. News article dated November 14, 1997. "Who Lied About Demjanjuk?," Ha'aretz Israeli News,
- ^ The Local. "Demjanjuk's SS identity card was forged, his lawyer says." News article dated April 13, 2012.
- ^ Convicted Nazi criminal Demjanjuk deemed innocent in Germany over technicality, at Haaretz.com, retrieved March 23, 2012, viz. statement by Munich state court spokeswoman Margarete Noetzel.