German Nazi Prosecutor Seeks Extradition of Accused Sobibor Guard

By Sarah Benczik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany - The head of the special German prosecutor's office for hunting Nazis has asked Germany to seek the extradition of John Demjanjuk from the U.S.  Demjanjuk stands accused of bearing the responsibility for the deaths of 29,000 Jews at the Sobibor concentration camp.

The chief of the special prosecutor's office and head of the investigation, Kurt Schrimm, said his office had evidence that Demjanjuk was a guard at Sobibor and had personally led Jews to the gas chambers there in 1943.  He stated that the office obtained a number of witnesses and hundreds of documents in its case, including lists of names of the people Demjanjuk personally led into the gas chambers.  "We have no doubt that he is responsible for the death of over 29,000 Jews," said Schrimm.

Demjanjuk, now 88 years old, is on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of the top ten WWII criminals, second only to SS doctor Aribert Heim, whose current whereabouts are unknown.

Demjanjuk maintains his innocence.  He claims that he was a member of the Soviet army who was taken prisoner and sent to the Nazi camps to work.  His son, John Demjanjuk Jr., told the AP that his father is in very poor health and could not defend himself at another foreign trial.  "Given the history of his criminal trial and acquittal in Israel and his failing health, trying him again is not about justice, it is about self-serving headlines for Schrimm and his office," he said.

Attempts to hold Demjanjuk responsible for Nazi-era crimes have a long history.  Demjanjuk emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio in 1952 and began working in the car industry for Ford Motor Co.  He was stripped of his US citizenship in the 1970s and extradited to Israel in 1986 to face charges that he was the Treblinka guard known as "Ivan the Terrible."  He was sentenced to death in 1988, but the Israeli Supreme Court overturned his conviction when new evidence came to light that someone else was actually "Ivan the Terrible."  Demjanjuk returned to the US in 1993.  His US citizenship was restored in 1998.  The U.S. Department of Justice brought a new case against him in 1999, arguing that he had failed to disclose that he had worked as a guard at three Nazi camps on his immigration papers.  In 2005 a US court ruled that Demjanjuk could be deported to his native Ukraine, Germany or Poland.  Demjanjuk has spent the last several years challenging that ruling, and this year the US Supreme Court chose not to consider his deportation appeal. 

"The Justice Department looks forward to the outcome the German prosecutors' review of this matter," said Laura Sweeney, a U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman.  The US built its case against Demjanjuk using documents that were made public after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

While Schrimm filed the extradition request on Monday, processing the request may take several days.  Efraim Zuroff, top Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesnethal Center in Israel, said that Germany's movement on the extradition request will be a question "of political will."

"This is a big opportunity for Demjanjuk to answer for his atrocities," said Kurt Schrimm.  It is estimated that about 250,000 persons were sent to Sobibor.  There were around 50 known survivors.   

For more information, please see:

Plain Dealer (Ohio) - Germany says it has proof Demjanjuk killed Jews at Sobibor death camp - 11 November 2008

AP - Germany seeking Nazi suspect's extradition - 10 November 2008

BBC - Germans seek 'Nazi guard' charges - 10 November 2008

Deutsche Welle - War Crimes Body Accuses Nazi 'Ivan the Terrible' - 10 November 2008

Reuters - Nazi hunter wants Demjanjuk extradited to Germany - 10 November 2008