US 'Nazi guard' faces deportation

[DoYouEverWonder]

22 December 2006

An 85-year-old man accused of having been a guard at a Nazi death camp has lost an appeal against his deportation from the US to his native Ukraine.

John Demjanjuk, who was ordered to be deported a year ago, can still make a further appeal against this ruling.

He has denied the allegations and his lawyers argued he would be tortured if sent back to Ukraine.

<snip>

Mr Demjanjuk returned to the US and his citizenship - which he had lost for allegedly lying to US immigration officials - was restored in 1998.

However, in 2002, an immigration judge ruled that there was enough evidence to prove Mr Demjanjuk had been a guard at several Nazi death camps and again stripped him of his citizenship.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6202319.stm


Why was this guy even allowed to become and remain a US citizen and why does it take decades to figure out a case like this? :shrug:

[izzie]

1. My God he is 85 and maybe was a guard?

Give me a brake. I went to college with ex-Germans from their Navy and Army. One was even on the other side of the same battle as his US college teacher. They used to talk about it. We had scientist here from Germany.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. What does age have to do with it?

Either the guy is guilty or he's not. What I don't understand is why is this so hard to figure out after all this time?

Pinoche was old too. Was that a reason to let him get away with what he did in Chile?

[izzie]

5. That is it. Was he or not a guard who did a thing wrong?

Pinoche was old and had a record with proof.

[Epiphany4z]

6. I think part of the problem

was that they first tried to get him for being Ivan the terrible.....who as it turns out he was not...but the powers that be followed that line anyway mucking up the simple fact that no he was not Ivan the terrible...but he was indeed a guard at Nazi death camps. You really have to go all the way back and follow this one from the beginning to see how screwed up it is. anyway he is old and will probably pass before they get him moved. He do some time while on trial in Israel for being Ivan the terrible.

[POAS]

4. He is not accused of

being in the Army or Navy. He is accused of being an SS guard at a concentration camp, of personally participating in torture and abuse and of lying about his activities to get access to the US and to get citizenship.

Israel let him go because they didn't trust the evidence provided by former Soviet block agencies against him. Rather than possibly kill an innocent as the Nazies did they released him back to the US.

US authorities have less of a problem with the evidence against him and are not giving him a death sentence, only a deportation.

It should also be noted that he has never adequately explained his whereabouts during the period he is accused of being "Ivan the Terrible". His accounts of all been soundly refuted.

It is irrefutable that he lied on his application for admition to the US and on his citizenship application. That alone warrants deportation.

[ray of light]

7. thank you for sharing the facts.

[MrPrax]

11. Interesting...

So even though all the evidence claiming Demjanjuk was Ivan the Terrible was a KGB fabrication done to embarrass and discredit the anti-Russian Ukrainian community in America and fully admitted by Russians archivists and the Israel courts, it doesn't give you pause for thought yet...that you might be wrong about Ivan the Terrible.

I vaguely remember some otherwise intelligent people commenting back in the 80s that the evidence against him was pretty flimsy but they were simply labeled 'anti-Semites' and 'Holocaust deniers', etc etc.

So since he wasn't at Treblinka or Sobibor...OR even the Trawniki training center? Would you really have people believe that a guy, a Ukrainian peasant, pressed into the Red Army, then captured by the Germans sometime in 1942!, then volunteered for guard duty and made it to the dizzying heights career of 'Ivan the Terrible'. AKA Ivan Marchenko. Or is it much easier to believe that a desparate immigrant who used his mothers' maiden (Marchenko) was the REAL reason behind his prosecution. A mistake that no can admit happened?

Demjanjuk says he wasn't at any camp and was imprisoned as POW. Unless you got proof -- I suggest you revise your opinion.

Demjanjuk spent five years in solidarity confinement on death row for fuck sakes for false prosecution. He's 85 and two governments have conspired to destroy his life. Enough is Enough.

But don't despair, there are a few war criminals in the US that need attention. Might I suggest the current case page at Center for Justice and Accountability

[POAS]

12. I only have one question

Did he lie to get into the US and get his citizenship?

[The Stranger]

14. No, you have actually changed the question.

First, it was if he is Ivan the Terrible. Now, it is something else entirely.

[POAS]

16. No I didn't. Try reading the whole post and

don't jump to conclusions without having done so.

My closing remark (misspelling and all) was "It is irrefutable that he lied on his application for admition to the US and on his citizenship application. That alone warrants deportation."

I really don't know if he is "Ivan the Terrible". In fact I think he probably is not that person. The person I was replying to seemed to be equating the original accusation against him to the ordinary soldier. THE "Ivan", whoever he is, was NOT an ordinary soldier so I attempted to recap a little of the history for that poster. I do not intend to imply guilt on those charges and infact pointed out that Israel had enough doubt about his guilt to release him. So let's get back to what i said in my original as well as my follow up post.

He isn't facing deportation on the charge of being "Ivan". His deportation is based on the falsification charges. If he can defend against that charge, why hasn't he done so? Do you have evidense that he was truthful on those applications?

[The Stranger]

20. The original belief was that he was "Ivan the Terrible."

If that were the case, he should have been deported, prosecuted, and punished to the full extent of the law, regardless of how old he is.

Now that it appears he is not, charging him with lying on his application undermines what should be efforts to find the real "Ivan" and any other remaining "Ivans" out there.

That is the point.

[POAS]

22. Well you'd have a point if

they weren't finding other "Ivans". In fact they are! The fact that he lied on his applications was in the original charges and were not added later after it was ruled that he wasn't "Ivan".

From 2004:

A federal immigration judge has ordered the deportation of an 80-year-old Queens resident who was an armed guard at a Nazi forced labor camp during World War II, the Justice Department announced yesterday. The man, Jakiw Palij, left, of Jackson Heights, was stripped of his American citizenship last year after a federal judge found that he lied about his past when he came to this country in 1949. He was ordered deported to Ukraine and has 30 days to appeal. William Glaberson (NYT)

Link

From 2006:

Federal authorities freed a former Nazi concentration camp guard after failing to find a country willing to take the 81-year-old man, who had been stripped of his American citizenship. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in January upheld a decision to revoke the citizenship of the man, Johann Leprich of Clinton Township in Macomb County. In September, Mr. Leprich’s lawyer asked a federal judge to order his client released, citing a Supreme Court decision requiring the freeing of those still held for deportation six months after a removal order. The Justice Department said it released Mr. Leprich on Monday because Romania, Hungary and Germany had refused to accept him, the Detroit Free Press reported. Mr. Leprich must report weekly to the immigration and customs agency.

Link (req. registration)

Based on the second story it would appear that Demjanjuk stands a good chance of not being deported if nobody else will take him.

[saigon68]

19. Maybe he could swim back across the border --- like the Swim Team

[PATRICK]

2. Deport him to the WH

Then a leaky banana boat to Paraguay.

[Hoosier Dem]

8. This case has always been toubling...

Several things about this case are very troubling. First of all, this man was an SS Guard, not a high-ranking Nazi. As it has been more than six decades since the end of World War II, I don't think there are any high-level Nazis left alive.

Secondly, I remember when the case first broke and prosecutors were so adamant that this guy was "Ivan the Terrible". Well, he wasn't. Then, suddenly, more evidence surfaced that this guys was still a "war criminal". I have a problem here: life is not "Perry Mason" and startling evidnce doesn't just pop up at a convenient time.

Third, the issue of his lying to get into the US. Well, it seems a lot of top Nazi scientists lied to get into the US (usually with the full knowledge of the US Government). People like Werner VonBraun denied their high-level Nazi status and were welcomed here with open arms. Just because this guy lied is not grounds for deportation.

I lost several relatives to the death camps but I see no point in pursuing this man any further. If he were a hi9gh-ranking Nazi like Klaus Barbie or Josef Mengele, I would say to pursue this. But to waste this much time and effort on a low-level guard is not worth it. If he did do these things, he's 85 and will soon face higher authority than the INS. If he didn't do these things, we've allowed a prosecutorial vendetta to run amok.

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. You are a very forgiving person

and I commend you for that.

However, my beef is not whether or not he is ever convicted, just that he should have never been allowed to live the good life in the US. I feel the same about the Nazi scientists and Intel people who came here after the war. If you look at the mess we are in now and the direction this country is going in with the Bush's at the helm, then you can see that they are still inflicting a lot of damage on society. Just because Hitler was finally removed from power, doesn't mean that particular mindset died with him.

[Hoosier Dem]

10. Remember one other thing...

One of the men in government who made a fortune in business dealings with the Nazis was one Prescott Bush, grandfather of the current embarassment-in-chief.

And, its not just the Nazis. We have let other slimy characters into this country over the years: The Shah of Iran, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, 'Baby Doc' Duvalier. Of course, these people were wealthy and pwerful. And don't EVEn get me started on how we kiss the ass of the Red Chinese, who are just an iota better than the Nazis.

[daleo]

13. I am surprised Rumsfeld and Bush didn't give him a medal

I guess torture is only bad if it's done by Nazis of the 1940s, though. I wonder if the Nazis used waterboarding?

[Solly Mack]

15. I was going to suggest he be "deported" to DC

to be with America's war criminals.

But you're right... America's war criminals are protected by "American exceptionalism"

[TheWatcher]

17. Rumsfeld is being deported?

Wow, when they fire someone, they don't mess around. :)

[DoYouEverWonder]

18. I don't think he's alllowed

back in Germany any more? Not unless he wants to face charges for war crimes.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MGD]

23. Cases like this make me wonder how long the world will have to live under the shadow of WW2.

Are we ever going to be able to put it behind us?