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Will Zuzak; DEMANUK.004 = 1992-11-23 Demjanjuk editorial; 1993-09-17
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Dear Subscribers:
For your information I am posting an article which I sent the
Washington Post last year, which (to my knowledge) was not published:
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Letters to Editor
The Washington Post
1150 15 St. N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20071
Tel:(202)334-7470
Fax:(202)334-5451
Dear Sirs:
Your editorial of November 23, 1992 on the sad case of John
Demjanjuk raises three specific points:
(1) Should the United States restore citizenship to Mr.
Demjanjuk and/or readmit him?
The answer to both questions is an unequivocal YES!
Despite the innuendos in your article, all evidence
presented to the courts implicating Mr. Demjanjuk in war crimes
has proved to be false. This includes the eyewitness testimony,
the Sobibor allegations and the Trawniki I.D. card.
As for lying on his visa application, Mr. Demjanjuk has
consistently stated that he falsified his place of birth and
whereabouts during World War II to avoid being forcibly
repatriated to the Soviet Union. Thousands of refugees now living
as American or Canadian citizens did likewise. Indeed, if
deception during the immigration process were the sole criterion
for denaturalization and deportation, a large fraction of all
immigrants, including Jewish ones, would be deported.
The fault, my dear Brutus, lies not with the refugees, but
with the secret provisions of the Yalta Agreement providing for
their forcible repatriation by the Allied armies to the tender
mercies of Stalin. It is high time that the governments of these
Allied forces declare these provisions null and void in the same
way that the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact has been repealed. This
should be followed by a sincere apology to the victims who were
forcibly repatriated to face death or incarceration.
(2) What is the Justice Department's culpability, and is it
punishable?
It is certain that the personnel of the Office of Special
Investigations (OSI) of the Justice Department conspired to
facilitate the denaturalization, deportation to and subsequent
false conviction of Mr. Demjanjuk in Israel. When the guilty
parties have served as much time in solitary confinement as Mr.
Demjanjuk, then justice will have been served.
Your innuendo that Mr. Demjanjuk obtained "a full and fair
trial" in Israel is absurd. The 17000 pages of testimony clearly
demonstrate that the proceedings were a gigantic media event
reminiscent of the Stalinist show trials of the 1930s.
(3) What does this imply about the Nazi-hunting project and
other cases of this sort?
Since its creation as a result of the Holtzman Amendment in
1978, the OSI has succeeded in compromising the integrity of the
judicial system in the United States and in promoting hatred
between Jewish and other ethnic groups. It has clearly
demonstrated that it is next to impossible to render justice 40
years after the fact. It is racist both in conception and in
practise, since it limits itself solely to prosecuting people
alleged to have persecuted Jews during World War II. It has no
general validity whatsoever. It should be disbanded at the
earliest opportunity and replaced with an organization capable of
dealing with war crimes and crimes against humanity occurring
throughout the world at the present time.
In conclusion, I would like to ask your readers to write or
telephone their Congressmen and Senators demanding that Mr.
Demjanjuk's citizenship be restored and that he be allowed to
return home to his family in Cleveland.
Respectfully yours
William Zuzak
Charitable Committee in Aid of John Demjanjuk's Family
Montreal Branch
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Will Zuzak; DEMANUK.004 = 1992-11-23 Demjanjuk editorial; 1993-09-17
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