'Old and miserable.' Demjanjuk
Photo: AFP
The imaginary invalid
Noah Klieger says suspected Nazi war criminal Ivan Demjanjuk is a very talented actor
I would have never believed that one of these days I would be writing something positive about Ivan Demjanjuk, but this day has indeed arrived. To the credit of this Ukrainian SS member, who served at extermination camps in Poland, I must say that he is most certainly a good actor, not to mention his family members.
It is amazing to see how this man, on the advice of his attorneys and relatives, is able time and again to produce episodes that buy him some more time before he will be extradited to Germany and face justice for the crimes he committed against the Jews.
Suspected Nazi guard removed from home on wheelchair (Photo: AP)
Suddenly, we see Ivan sitting in a wheelchair, as if he can no longer walk on his own two feet, while his wife and other family members are standing there and crying in the face of the grave state of the husband, father, and grandfather.
“What do they want from an elderly, invalid, and broken man who is 89-years-old?” they weep over and over again.
By the way, I would like to mention here that back in the trial against Demjanjuk in Israel, that is, about 17-18 years ago, his attorneys claimed that we are dealing with an elderly and sick man. It is odd how this elderly and sick man has been able to stay alive to this day.
And what do they really want from the old and miserable Ivan? They merely want, after years of planned foot-dragging by his people, he will be face justice in Munich over his actions as an SS man in the Sobibor and Trawniki camps, where, we should not, he did not at all show any mercy to the elderly or the disabled.
It is true that today Ivan Demjanjuk is certainly an old man, and it is doubtful whether he will indeed be imprisoned after the court in Munich finds him guilty and hand down some sort of detainment verdict – yet this has no significance whatsoever. The only thing that matters is that he will indeed be found guilty and be punished for his crimes.
