On Saturday March
17, 2012 it was reported in the media that John Demjanjuk died in his sleep in
the town of Feilnbach, Germany; his five-year sentence on 28,060 counts of
being an accessory to murder in the Nazi camp at Sobibor, under appeal.Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, in pace:
John Demjanjuk 1920-2012
In Memoriam
On Saturday March
17, 2012 it was reported in the media that John Demjanjuk died in his sleep in
the town of Feilnbach, Germany; his five-year sentence on 28,060 counts of
being an accessory to murder in the Nazi camp at Sobibor, under appeal.
Thus
it transpired that at age ninety he was back in Germany, convicted of
complicity in the Holocaust, in the country and by the people who perpetuated
the Holocaust and brutally mistreated him when he was their young prisoner of
war.
It
was a blessing that John Demjanjuk had only a fourth grade education and never
even heard of Kafka. That is probably what kept him sane all those infernal
years.
During
the thirty five years Demjanjuk’s image evolved from that of “a cockroach in a
bottle” to his depiction as an ogre, his embroidered Ukrainian shirt and
monstrous hands dripping with blood. (L.A. Times syndicated cartoon),
but his “Ukrainian-born” epithet stuck.
For
the record, Demjanjuk kept his dignity and composure under conditions that
would have given Dante pause. During his trial in Jerusalem, he was transported
shackled in a van. At critical junctures of the proceedings, like the verdict
or subsequent sentencing, the driver would strategically accelerate, and unable
to save himself, old Demjanjuk would bang his head and injure his back
(impaired by a war wound). That is why the disoriented, convulsed, collapsed
image of Demjanjuk that flashed on our screens and front pages was not that of
a terrified man but of a human being in agony.
But
perhaps the most diabolical were his final interrogations on death row (Ayalon
Prison, five years). When the “Ivan the Terrible” fiasco in Jerusalem started
to unravel, his inquisitors, failing to convince Demjanjuk to plea bargain
(confess to having been a guard), made certain that he was constantly reminded
of his impending doom: there was incessant hammering heard from the courtyard
where a gibbet was being built.
For
the record, we reaffirm the sentiments expressed during our final press
conference: “Metro backers hail acquittal of ‘hero’” (Toronto Star, July
30, 1993).
Our
community raised over $1 million for John Demjanjuk’s defence in Israel,
because his defence fund and family went bankrupt after over a decade of
litigation in the US. We kept up his morale by writing hundreds of letters and
cards, holding demonstrations, prayer services in churches and in public. Our
support across Canada was unequivocal and unfaltering, guided by our clergy and
our mentors: Bishop Isidore Borecky and Rev. Petro Bublyk.
In
response, John Demjanjuk never let us down, his courage and Christian fortitude
intact to the very end. Consequently, the “Ukrainian-born” Demjanjuk did not
drag our good name with him into the annals of history as a Ukrainian who
single-handedly by exterminated a million Jews.
Вічна
йому пам’ять!
Lesya Jones, Secretary
Canadian
Charitable Committee
in
Defence of John Demjanjuk,
1986-1993.
March
18, 2012