Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Ex-official cites Israeli pressure at hearing on 'Ivan' Date: Sat, 14 Nov 92 16:22:11 EST Message-ID: \SE A;NATION \SS (WS) \HD Ex-official cites Israeli pressure at hearing on 'Ivan' \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT NASHVILLE, Tenn. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The government was under pressure to find Nazis at the time a retired autoworker was extradited to Israel to stand trial as death-camp guard "Ivan the Terrible," a former official testified yesterday. The United States extradited John Demjanjuk, 72, of Cleveland to Israel in 1986 to stand trial as "Ivan the Terrible," the name survivors of a Nazi death camp had for a murderous guard. Demjanjuk, who was convicted in 1988, is appealing his death sentence to the Israeli Supreme Court. His case was recently reopened by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to determine whether the U.S. government withheld information that might have cleared him. Yesterday, attorney Martin Mendelsohn testified that Israel was pressuring the United States to help it find Nazi war criminals believed to be hiding in this country, including "Ivan the Terrible." A guard nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible" helped run the gas chambers at the Treblinka camp in occupied Poland where 850,000 Jews were killed in the 1940s, camp survivors have said. Demjanjuk, a native of Ukraine, has maintained that he was never a guard at Treblinka but was held at another Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Mr. Mendelsohn, who was head of the Justice Department's Nazi-hunting Office of Special Investigations, was the final witness called during a two-day hearing before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas A. Wiseman, who has been appointed to oversee the Demjanjuk investigation. Another two days of hearings are scheduled for Dec. 21-22. During questioning by public defender Ed Marek, Mr. Mendelsohn said that Rep. Joshua Eilberg, Pennsylvania Democrat, asked for accelerated Nazi investigations in a letter to then-Attorney General Griffin Bell in 1978. Mr. Mendelsohn said his unit was formed soon thereafter and after additional pressure from the Israeli government. Demjanjuk's son, John Demjanjuk Jr., 27, of Cleveland, has attended both days of hearings. He said yesterday his father calls home once a week and is aware his case is being reviewed. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM