Page 60 - Signs of the End

24 THE SIGNS OF THE END

We felt it w as important to interview some of the people who
were intimately involved with the Demjanjuk case and those who
were survivors of the death camps. One of the people we met
w as the director of the Jerusalem branch of the Wiesenthal
Institute. This organization is responsible for tracking down the
remaining Nazi war criminals wherever they are and bringing
them to justice. They wanted very much to have Demjanjuk
convicted. They were also involved in the undercover infiltration
of a neo-Nazi organization in Germany this year, which we will
describe later.

In the Demjanjuk case, after a period of years in the trial
process, the evidence persuaded the Israeli Supreme Court that
he w as not Ivan after all. No witnesses could be found that
could definitely identify him as Ivan. There were those who felt
they recognized him in some Nazi activity after all theses
decades, but not as Ivan.

What came to light was that Demjanjuk was instead a guard
at one of the concentration camps, but not Ivan's. The prosecu­
tors tried to have the charges changed, but the Court decided
that he could not be tried again for the lesser charge after having
been acquitted of the greater charge.

Thus, he was released from Israel and returned to America.
There w as considerable agitation about this release among the
Israelis, who felt frustrated that they couldn't convict Demjanjuk,
even though they knew he w as guilty of concentration camp
service.

But in America Demjanjuk still had problems. When he
originally applied as an immigrant to the U.S. after the war, he
signed an affidavit that stated he had never been associated with
the Nazis. Thus, it appears that he falsified the statement, and
the State Department reported that it was looking into pressing
charges against him also. At this w riting his U.S. citizenship
case remains under review.

Neo-Nazi Movement

One would have thought that the Nazi movement died with
Hitler and the Third Reich, but, amazingly, it is rearing its ugly
head in the very place where it began earlier this century.