Conference taveng::bagels

1343.0. "Two Ivans at Treblinka" by TAVENG::KREMER () Mon Jun 21 1993 17:37

From: [email protected] (UPI)

	CLEVELAND (UPI) -- The Justice Department says two Ukrainians named 
``Ivan,'' one of them a naturalized American already convicted of war
crimes by an Israeli court, took turns operating the Treblinka death
camp's gas chamber to slaughter nearly 900,000 Jews during World War II.
	The unexpected announcement came Monday in a written statement the
department submitted to U.S. District Judge Thomas Wiseman of Nashville,
Tenn., who had ordered federal prosecutors to summarize the evidence.
	Wiseman is a special master investigating allegations of
prosecutorial misconduct in U.S. actions that stripped former Cleveland
auto worker Ivan Demjanjuk of his citizenship and resulted in his
extradition to Israel.
	Federal prosecutors said Ivan Demjanjuk and Ivan Marczenko took turns
servicing a diesel engine that pumped carbon monoxide fumes into rooms
disguised as a bath house to asphyxiate Jews.
	They said there was a third unnamed Ukrainian ``who worked with him
(Demjanjuk) and Marczenko at the diesel motors.''
	Marczenko, the prosecutors said, ran the camp's gas chamber on
Demjanjuk's days off until March 26, 1943, when Demjanjuk was
transferred to another death camp about 60 miles from Treblinka.
	``It's really stretching,'' Demjanjuk's son, John Demjanjuk Jr., told
the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer. ``Nobody has ever said there were two
Ivans before.
	``My God, three operators of the gas chambers, and two of them were
Ivan. That's preposterous,'' he said.
	Demjanjuk's family has consistently maintained he is a victim of
mistaken identity and that Marczenko is the ``Ivan the Terrible'' who
was responsible for the deaths.
	Demjanjuk lost his American citizenship during a 1981 Cleveland
federal court trial. But during those proceedings, prosecutors never
hinted that two Ivans operated the Treblinka gas chambers. However,
federal officials told the newspaper Monday they did not learn details
of Marczenko's activities until the 1990s, when Soviet archives became
available.
	``The undisputed evidence shows that the government conducted the
(American court) proceedings against Demjanjuk in good faith,''
government lawyer Patty Merkamp Stemier said in a written statement. 
``No government attorney concealed or wrongfully withheld...evidence.''
	The two-Ivan theory was summarized in an 80-page, court-ordered,
document filed in the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati.
	Demjanjuk, 72, a former Seven Hills, Ohio, resident, is awaiting
execution in Israel on his conviction for war crimes. He is appealing
the conviction.

    According to today's news, Demjanjuk's stay in the Ayalon prison is to
    be extended another 13 days so as to allow the prosecution (and
    survivors) more time to prove his guilt as a guard in Sobibor.  I heard
    John Demjanjuk Jr. his father's "ordeal" in prison, i.e., being in a
    prison cell in 100 degree weather, etc.  I had a tough time holding
    back my tears...
    
    My observations are that it may be more important to investigate what
    and who is behind the funding of Demjanjuk's defense, and Congressman
    James Traficant's obtaining a permit for him to re-enter the U.S.,
    rather than convict Demjanjuk.  
    
    Is anybody familiar with this congressman?  He supposedly is a
    democrat, but I don't distinguish between the two parties in the U.S.
    
    /d.c.