Demjanjuk charged with Nazi war crimes, deported to Germany
Matt Webber
Issue date: 5/13/09 Section: News
Demjanjuk, an 89 year-old Cleveland man, was deported to Germany on Monday to face charges as a war criminal in World War II.
Demjanjuk has been accused of being an accessory to the death of 29,000 civilians at the death camp Sobibo in Poland.
Charges have been raised again because research has accumulated that may dispute Demjanjuk's alibi.
"Between 1942 and late '44, his alibi simply doesn't work," said Jonathan Drimmer, the lead prosecutor in the United State's 2002 trial against Demjanjuk.
Demjanjuk has lived and worked in Cleveland since he entered the United States in 1952.
Demjanjuk was deported on Monday and is expected to stand trial for war crimes committed over 60 years ago.
If Demjanjuk does not face trial it will be for his health, not lack of evidence. Demjanjuk's health issues have been raised as a reason he should not travel, but these concerns have been overruled by German and U.S. authorities.
Demjanjuk was taken from his home in a wheelchair on Monday and flown to Munich via medical jet.
These are not the first charges Demjanjuk has faced. He has been accused by both Israel and the United States of being "Ivan the Terrible," a guard at the war camp Treblinka.
In 1988, Demjanjuk was convicted and sentenced to be hanged, but the Israeli Supreme Court freed Demjanjuk in 1993 because the evidence against him was not conclusive.
Both Israel and the United States dropped these charges in 2002 before a war crime trial could take place.
He was stripped of his citizenship in 2002.
The Supreme Court denied Demjanjuk's request to stay in the United States.
Demjanjuk has claimed his innocence of the charges of being an S.S. Guard during World War II.
Ukranian Demjanjuk claims he was held by Nazi's as a Soviet prisoner of war during the part of the war he is accused of being a guard.
Demjanjuk is accused of aiding in the murder of Jews and Gypsies in the extermination camp Sobibor.
Sources estimate that up to 200,000 civilians were killed in Sobibor by gas chambers.
The camp was closed in 1943 after a successful revolt.
Today, it is a heavily wooded area from the trees planted days after the revolt by Nazis to hide evidence.
Demjanjuk has been accused of being an accessory to the death of 29,000 civilians at the death camp Sobibo in Poland.
Charges have been raised again because research has accumulated that may dispute Demjanjuk's alibi.
"Between 1942 and late '44, his alibi simply doesn't work," said Jonathan Drimmer, the lead prosecutor in the United State's 2002 trial against Demjanjuk.
Demjanjuk has lived and worked in Cleveland since he entered the United States in 1952.
Demjanjuk was deported on Monday and is expected to stand trial for war crimes committed over 60 years ago.
If Demjanjuk does not face trial it will be for his health, not lack of evidence. Demjanjuk's health issues have been raised as a reason he should not travel, but these concerns have been overruled by German and U.S. authorities.
Demjanjuk was taken from his home in a wheelchair on Monday and flown to Munich via medical jet.
These are not the first charges Demjanjuk has faced. He has been accused by both Israel and the United States of being "Ivan the Terrible," a guard at the war camp Treblinka.
In 1988, Demjanjuk was convicted and sentenced to be hanged, but the Israeli Supreme Court freed Demjanjuk in 1993 because the evidence against him was not conclusive.
Both Israel and the United States dropped these charges in 2002 before a war crime trial could take place.
He was stripped of his citizenship in 2002.
The Supreme Court denied Demjanjuk's request to stay in the United States.
Demjanjuk has claimed his innocence of the charges of being an S.S. Guard during World War II.
Ukranian Demjanjuk claims he was held by Nazi's as a Soviet prisoner of war during the part of the war he is accused of being a guard.
Demjanjuk is accused of aiding in the murder of Jews and Gypsies in the extermination camp Sobibor.
Sources estimate that up to 200,000 civilians were killed in Sobibor by gas chambers.
The camp was closed in 1943 after a successful revolt.
Today, it is a heavily wooded area from the trees planted days after the revolt by Nazis to hide evidence.
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