how did john ivan demjanjuk lawyer

Demjanjuk was represented by John Gill and Mark O’Connor, who also represented him during his denaturalization, deportation and extradition hearings in the United States. They were joined by Israeli attorney Yoram Sheftel.

Full Answer

Who is the lawyer for John Demjanjuk?

Demjanjuk was at first represented by N.Y. attorney Mark J. O'Connor, but fired him in July 1987 just a week before he was scheduled to testify at his trial. In his place, Demjanjuk hired Israeli trial lawyer Yoram Sheftel whom O'Connor had hired as co-counsel.

What happened to Ivan Demjanjuk?

Demjanjuk became a US citizen in 1958. In August 1977, Demjanjuk was accused of having been a Trawniki man. Based on eyewitness testimony by Holocaust survivors in Israel, he was identified as the notorious Treblinka extermination camp guard known as "Ivan the Terrible". Demjanjuk was extradited to Israel in 1986 for trial.

Who is Iwan Demjanjuk?

Trawniki service identity pass no. 1393 identifies a Ukrainian, “Iwan Demjanjuk”, son of “Nikolai”, born on April 30, 1920 in “Duboimachariwzi”, as serving in Okzow since September 22, 1942 and in Sobibor since March 27, 1943. This is the most famous document related to the Demjanjuk case.

Why did George Demjanjuk lie on his visa application?

During the trial, Demjanjuk admitted to having lied on his US visa application but claimed that it was out of fear of being returned to the Soviet Union and denied having been a concentration camp guard. Demjanjuk instead claimed to have been a German prisoner who completed forced labor.

Who is John Demjanjuk's attorney?

Yoram Sheftel, John Demjanjuk's attorney impending decision of Supreme Court in appeal of his conviction of being Nazi war criminal Ivan the Terrible. Photo: David Rubinger/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty. Israeli lawyer Yoram Sheftel, who represented accused Nazi war criminal and Ohio autoworker John Demjanjuk during his trial in the '80s, ...

When was Demjanjuk sentenced to hang?

Demjanjuk was sentenced to hang in 1988. However, Shefter ultimately emerged victorious in the case, after Israel overturned Demjanjuk's conviction due to new evidence that arose suggesting Ivan the Terrible was a different Ukrainian. In the decades since Demjanjuk's case, Sheftel, who’s also a popular radio talk show host in Israel, ...

Where did Demjanjuk die?

Demjanjuk died in a German nursing home in 2012 appealing separate war crimes charges in Munich, where he was accused of being an accessory in the death of nearly 30,000 Jewish prisoners, The New York Times reported.

Who insulted the Israeli Defense Forces?

During the trial, Sheftel made headlines for insulting and fat-shaming an Israeli Defense Forces general, The Times of Israel reported . “A person who is fat, like the chief of staff, does not display soldiery, and he is not an example for the entire army, in the way a chief of staff is supposed to be,” Sheftel said.

Who was the Israeli lawyer who was sentenced to hang?

He even referred to the Israeli attorney as a manipulative “family enforcer.”. Demjanjuk was sentenced to hang in 1988.

Who was the most hated man in Israel?

A Jewish lawyer who once represented accused Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk, Yoram Sheftel referred to himself as the “most hated man in Israel” during the trial against his client in the late '80s. Yoram Sheftel, John Demjanjuk's attorney impending decision of Supreme Court in appeal of his conviction of being Nazi war criminal Ivan the Terrible.

When was Demjanjuk's trial?

1. Demjanjuk's trial before the special tribunal (Supreme Court Judge Dov Levin, and Jerusalem District Court Judges Zvi Tal and Dahlia Dorner) was opened with the reading out session on November 26, 1986. For practical purposes, the hearings commenced only on February 16, 1987 and this primarily in response by the Court to applications for postponement filed by the defense, to enable it to prepare properly for the trial.

When did the Nazi list come into possession?

In October 1975, there came into the possession of certain members of the U.S. Senate a list of Nazi war criminals living so the document alleged in the U.S. The list gave the suspects' names and personal particulars, in most cases also stating what they had done during World War II.

How long was Demjanjuk in jail?

The Munich case, in which he was given a five-year jail sentence, was Germany's last big war crimes trial. Demjanjuk was convicted of being a guard at the Sobibor death camp, and convicted on 28,060 counts of being an accessory to murder.

Where was John Demjanjuk born?

Ivan "John" Demjanjuk was born in Ukraine, and drafted into the Soviet Red Army during the Second World War. He was captured by Germans and became a prisoner of war, before volunteering to transfer to Trawniki concentration camp. Here he undertook special training to become a guard at extermination camps.

How many Jews did Demjanjuk kill?

Demjanjuk was a guard at Sobibor camp in occupied Poland from March to September 1943, where he was found to have helped murder 28,060 Jews by gassing them to death with exhaust fumes. The former SS guard was complicit in herding thousands of terrified new arrivals down a concentration camp walkway called the "Road to Heaven".

Where was Demjanjuk held?

During his trial, he claimed to have been held at a camp in Chelmno, Poland, until 1944 - before being moved to another camp in Austria where he joined a Nazi-backed unit of Russian soldiers fighting communist rule. 3. Demjanjuk surrounded by officers at his 1988 trial for war crimes Credit: AFP - Getty.

Was Ivan the Terrible ever charged?

Was he ever charged? In 1986, he was extradited to Israel where he stood accused of being Ivan the Terrible. His defence argued the SS card had been forged by the KGB - but he was convicted and faced a death sentence in 1988 for war crimes committed between 1942 and 1943.

Who is Ivan the Terrible?

EVIL former death camp guard John Demjanjuk, known as Ivan the Terrible, is the subject of a new docu-series exploring the atrocities of the Holocaust. Here's what we know about the man behind Netflix show The Devil Next Door and his horrifying crimes. 3. Born 'Ivan', Demjanjuk later changed his name to the anglicised version, John Credit: EPA.

Is Demjanjuk still alive?

Is he still alive? Demjanjuk he was still appealing the case when he died in 2012 at the age of 91, in a nursing home in the Bavarian town of Bad Feilnbach . Despite decades of legal wrangling and controversy, Demjanjuk died a free man and, technically, an innocent one, as his appeal had not been heard nor decided.

Who was the former chief counsel for John Demjanjuk?

Mark O’Connor, the former chief counsel for accused Nazi concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk, was fired by the Ohio grandfather weeks before testifying at his own war crimes trial in Israel. But why?

Who was the attorney who fired John Demjanjuk?

American Attorney Mark O'connor with his client, alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk. Photo: Getty Images. Ultimately, O’Connor’s firing was carried out by the Demjanjuk family, namely, his son John Jr. and his son-in-law, Ed Nishnic, who persuaded Demjanjuk that O’Connor was losing the case, according to “Useful Enemies.”.

How long did Demjanjuk serve his family?

Demjanjuk reportedly had an emotional attachment to his chief counsel, who had loyally served his family for roughly five years, according to the Associated Press. But Demjanjuk’s life was also at stake.

When was Demjanjuk released?

Demjanjuk was released and returned to the U.S. in 1993. His release was met with a wave of protests at home, according to the Washington Post. Demjanjuk died in a German nursing home in 2012 appealing separate war crimes accusations in Munich, where he had again been deported, the Times reported. He was 91.

What did Sheftel's admissions essentially solidified the Demjanjuk’s family belief?

Sheftel’s admissions essentially solidified the Demjanjuk’s family belief that O’Connor had derailed Demjanjuk’s case. However, discord between the two attorneys continued to grow, and spilled into the courtroom as the family wrestled over what to do with their chief counsel.

When was Demjanjuk thrown out of jail?

Demjanjuk, who was convicted and sentenced to hang in 1988, had his case thrown out by Israel’s courts in 1993 after new evidence surfaced indicating a different Ukrainian was in fact Ivan the Terrible, according to the New York Times .

Who is the Israeli defense attorney who was brought on as a co-counsel for the Demjanjuk family

Behind the scenes, however, his legal team was fractured. A rift had developed between chief counsel Mark O’Connor, a Buffalo, New York lawyer, and Yoram Sheftel, a flamboyant Israeli defense attorney, who had been brought on as co-counsel by the Demjanjuk family to help their legal team traverse the Israeli courts system.

Who is John Demjanjuk?

John Demjanjuk is the focus of Netflix’s new documentary series, The Devil Next Door. Demjanjuk was an autoworker in Cleveland who was accused of being I van the Terrible, a Nazi concentration camp guard who committed terrible crimes.

How did Demjanjuk die?

Demjanjuk Died of Natural Causes in a German Nursing Home. Getty John Demjanjuk in 2011. Demjanjuk was convicted in Israel and sentenced to die by hanging, but his conviction was overturned after another person was accused of being Ivan the Terrible.

What is Demjanjuk's church?

Demjanjuk’s church in the United States was St. Vladimir Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral, Cleveland.com shared. In a statement the cathedral said in 2012: “Our parish and the Ukrainian community have always supported Mr. Demjanjuk and his claim of innocence of committing the crimes of which he was accused.”.

Where is Demjanjuk buried?

According to Cleveland 19 in a recent article, Demjanjuk’s body was returned to the Cleveland, Ohio area. However, his exact burial site was kept secret because his family feared retaliation ...

Who was Ivan the Terrible?

In 1992, Ivan Marchenko was accused of being Ivan the Terrible by Demjanjuk’s son and others. Some believe that Demjanjuk was Ivan Marchenko, since Marchenko was his mother’s maiden name and he used the name on his Visa application, ...

Did Demjanjuk die from his mother's name?

However, Demjanjuk’s attorney Yoram Sheftel said that Marchenko was not actually his mother’s maiden name. It was never known for certain if Demjanjuk was indeed Ivan the Terrible, and he did not die as a result of a conviction for those crimes.

Who failed to identify Demjanjuk?

The fourth positive witness, Czarny, failed to identify Demjanjuk on the first try. Boraks and Lindwasser identified him with certainty. Epstein used phrases like “this is how I remember him”, “reminds me very strongly of” – so no certainty, and he also falsely identified Nikolay (Shaleyev) on an unrelated photo.

What was Demjanjuk's official name?

Demjanjuk’s official name in the concentration camp system was “Iwan Demjanjuk”, with slight phonetically almost identical variations thereof appearing in various documents. There’s not the slightest documentary hint of Demjanjuk ever having been to Treblinka even once, not to mention for a prolonged time.

How many survivors of Demjanjuk were there?

Basically, there were only 9 survivors who claimed to recognize Demjanjuk during the official interrogations.

Where was Demjanjuk born?

Ivan Nikolajevich Demjanjuk was born on April 30, 1920 in Dubovi Makharyntsi (Dubovyje Makharintsi) in what now is Vinnits’ka (Vinnitskaja) oblast in Ukraine. A Red Army soldier during the war, he was captured and became a prisoner of war in the camp Chelm, where he volunteered to be trained as a concentration camp guard in Trawniki.

What is JD's mother's name?

And the maiden name of his mother is actually Tabachuk – he forgot it and wrote in one of the most popular Ukrainian surnames (think “Smith” or “Jones”).

When was the Demjanjuk roster created?

The roster can be dated as created in the period from Dec. 10, 1944 to Jan. 15, 1945. Doc. no. 8. A very ironic item in the list – Demjanjuk’s own “Application for Assistance”, which he submitted in March of 1948 to the Preparatory Commission of the International Refugee Organization.

Who is Ivan the Terrible?

Ivan the Terrible was Ivan Marchenko, a real and entirely different person from Demjanjuk. Demjanjuk used his real name in the camps and thus couldn’t have used an additional alias since he was “Demjanjuk” in the official paperwork.