Dear Subscribers:

The new John Demjanjuk denaturalization trial presently taking place in Cleveland, Ohio before Judge Paul R. Matia is entering its second week. The defense attorneys are Michael Tigar and John Broadley. The OSI attorneys are Edward Stutman, Jonathan Drimmer, Miss Michelle Heyer, Ms. Michael Anne Johnson and Susan Siegal. The trial commenced on Tue., May 29, 2001.

Thus far, 4 witnesses for the prosecution have appeared. The first 3 witnesses (Gideon Epstein, Larry Stewart and Thomas Smith) testified on the “authenticity” of the multitude of documents submitted by the OSI. Their testimony and cross-examination was surprisingly brief and lacking in details, such that they were finished by Wednesday noon.

The fourth witness, historian Charles Sydnor, testified for the rest of the week and is continuing today (Tue., June 5, 2001). The Court did not sit yesterday.

Below, we briefly summarize the testimony of the first three witnesses, but will not tackle Sydnor until his testimony is complete.

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2001/05/29 – Stutman, Tigar, Epstein
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Stutman:
“We will show that these seven documents establish that Iwan Demjanjuk, identification number 1393, served at Trawniki training camp and as an armed guard at the Majdanek concentration camp, the Sobibor extermination camp, and the Flossenburg concentration camp.”

Stutman further states that the OSI will prove that these documents are genuine and that they implicate Mr. Demjanjuk.
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Tigar:
- points out that, in 1981, the OSI was wrong about claiming the Mr. Demjanjuk was Ivan the Terrible of Treblinka.
- there are a multitude of discrepancies in the submitted documents. - no expert has stated conclusively that the signature on the Trawniki ID card #1393 was written by John Demjanjuk.
- points out that there is no direct or indirect evidence against Mr. Demjanjuk of having committed atrocities.
- states that this is “trial by archive”.
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Epstein:
- is the forensic document examiner who testified against Mr. Demjanjuk in the 1981 denaturalization trial and in the 1987 Jerusalem trial.
- in none of these trials, including this one, does he testify as to the authenticity of the questioned signature on the Trawniki ID card #1393, which has now been designated as Government Exhibit 3 (GE3).
- most recently examined this card in his laboratory in July 2000.

Tigar does a “voir dire” on Epstein’s qualifications:
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- Basically he is a handwriting expert who also looks for alterations in the document.
- Matia rules that Epstein is qualified to testify as a handwriting expert.

Stutman does the direct examination:
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- Epstein examined and photographed documents in Moscow on May 29, 30, 2000; in Berlin on May 31, 2000; and in his MacLean, Virginia laboratory.
- Epstein authenticates the signature of Streibel and Teufel by comparing them against the signatures of other documents.
- Particularly interesting is his reference to the date/place 27.3.43 Sobibor which appears on GE3 (Demjanjuk), GE45.7 (Danilchenko) and GE45.14 (Kabirow).
- Presumably, the purple Cyrillic handwriting of Bazilevskaya appears on GE3 (Demjanjuk), GE45.7 (Danilchenko), GE45.4 (Juchnowskij), GE45.32 (Nahorniak), and GE45.33 (Szkurhan).
- The rubber stamp “Wird der Inhaber ...” and other stamps are the same on many of these documents.
- Of particular relevance may be his reference to the two“Zweigestelle Trawniki” circular stamps which appear on the photo of the Trawniki ID card #1393.
- Epstein claims that knowledge of the “chain of custody” is not important for his work.
- Epstein says that Julius Grant, who testified on behalf of Mr. Demjanjuk at the Jerusalem trial, is not a handwriting expert.
- Epstein concludes that he found no discrepancies in the signatures or stamps.

Tigar cross-examines Epstein:
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- Tigar berates Epstein for omitting reference to an erasure of the letter I (in Ivan) in card #1393 in his 1981 report and stating “no fiber disturbance”.
- Tigar takes him to task for stating that “chain of custody” is not important.
- Tigar points out that Epstein never gave an opinion on the Demjanjuk signature in 1981 or 1987, and he wasn’t asked to refer to it today.
- Tigar points out that some of the SS runes on the documents are hand drawn while others are printed, which Epstein missed in 1981.
- The “Wird der Inhaber” stamp on #1393 is different than the one on the Danilchenko document (GE45.7)
- Tigar points out that even though the same person signs the cards the forms may be different.
- Tigar points out that there is no signature on the Danilchenko and Juchnowskij documents.
- When he was testifying in Israel, he was being paid by the INS and even flew directly into Jerusalem.
- Epstein worked on the case of Trifa, Archbishop of Romania, who sent a friendly postcard to Himmler from which a fingerprint was obtained, which resulted in him being banished to Portugal.
- Tigar refers to a Vanya letter signed by Mr. Demjanjuk on Feb. 3, 1941.
- Discussion about defect in “i” in “Zweigestelle Trawniki” stamp.

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2001/05/30 – Larry Stewart, Thomas Smith
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Both men work for the U.S. Secret Service, Stewart as Laboratory Direector and Smith as Chief of Questioned Document Branch of the Forensic Services Division. We find it very disturbing that the U.S. Secret Service would get involved in political show trials on behalf of the Holocaust Industry.

Drimmer direct examination of Larry Stewart:
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- Stewart examined 22 documents in Moscow, Berlin (see Epstein above) and his Washington, DC lab.
- Defense law clerk was present during his examinations of documents from Moscow, Berlin and Poland but not for those from Ukraine, Lithuania or Israel.
- no indication that any of the 22 documents were falsely dated, none were altered to make them look older.
- looked at the documents in the infrared, ultraviolet and visible wavelength regions.

- There was “no breaking on the reverse side”, which occurs if you type on very old, dry paper.
- no indication of titanium dioxide which is used as a paper brightener since the 1950s.

- found watermarks on GE4 and GE55 – Greenson & Waite, dandy roll for Joe Wiggins Fine Papers Arjo, utilized from prior to 1940s to early 1970s.
- no watermarks on other documents which is not surprising.

- The two circular stamps overlapping the photograph in #1393 do not line up.
- However, by shifting the photo vertically, horizontally and rotating it one degree counterclockwise, he can make them line up. (He does a computer scan of the image and uses image manipulation software.)
- Stewart concludes that this is the photograph which was originally on the card.

- x-ray fluorescent spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealed yielded information on the inorganic composition of the paper.

- took ink samples via micro-perforations technique, and did thin layer chromatography.
- There is a match of the black printing ink on GE3 (Demjanjuk) and GE45.14 (Nurgali Kabirow).
- Between GE4 and GE55 (the watermark paper), there is a match of the green fountain pen ink, the violet and gray pencil, rubber stamp defects.
- Between GE6 and GE64, Stewart found the “black duplicating ink” to be the same.
- The gray pencil entries on GE7 match GE55.
- documents from Nurnberg Trial era had many similar colored pencil markings.

Tigar cross-examination of Larry Stewart:
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- Stewart admits Drimmer gave him list of questions and Stewart wrote out his responses beforehand.
- Mr. Domarkos of the Lithuanian archives brought a red-bound book (GE4) to Stewart’s lab. (Has CCP inside.)
- Stewart did not examine the purple ink of the Cyrillic writing in GE4.
- Tigar points out that the pages in GE4 are not in chronological order.
- The top of the document appears to be cut and is not rectilinear.
- Paper probably manufactured in England.
- Stewart states that for German documents in the Nurnberg Trials it was quite common to find paper and inks manufactured in the United States and England.
- Tigar asks Stewart if he talked to government counsel about his examination of Nurnberg documents and then asks Matia to tell Drimmer to stop making faces and shaking his head from side to side.
- Stewart didn’t look for staple holes in other documents besides GE3.
- Tigar asks a question about computer movement of stamps on photo on GE3, but cannot follow it up with relevant questions.
- [The defense should have asked Stewart to perform the whole procedure live in front of the judge. If not, someone from the defense team should do it.]
- Stewart did not attempt to obtain fingerprints from GE3, although he discussed it with Stutman and Drimmer.

Drimmer direct examination of Thomas Smith:
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- Smith was in Moscow/Berlin with the rest of the OSI crew on May 29/30, 2000.
- virtually all typewriter print is of the pica type 10 characters/inch spacing, which is consistent with an Olympia brand typewriter of that era.
- did typewriter analysis of GE45.4 (Juchnowskij), GE45.11 and GE45.17 (Bondarenko).
- Found erasure and substitution in GE45.17 (Bondarenko)

Tigar cross-examination of Thomas Smith:
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- Smith was in Moscow on May 29/30, 2000 with Stewart, Epstein, Drimmer, archival Justice Department historian (Coe?), defense law clerk, translator, Miss Wilk.
- looked at GE5 and GE6
- He did not check to see if the same typewriter was used, just that type conformed to Olympia brand.
- In GE3 (Demjanjuk) there was no meaningful erasure except for the “I” (in Iwan?)
- In GE45.17 (Bondarenko) in the Nationalitat line MYKOLA was typed and erased. There is an erasure before Kloschko.
- Gentleman from Ukraine visited Forensic Services Division with documents.
- Eli Rosenbaum personally brought the 4 Trawniki ID cards from Israel.
- [WHY WERE THESE IN ISRAEL?]

- The type is manufactured by Ransmeyer Rodrian.
- some typewrites had SS runes others didn’t.

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Regards
Will Zuzak, 2001/06/05