HOME  DISINFORMATION  DEMJANJUK
Indictment, State of Israel versus John Demjanjuk, Criminal Case 373/86, 29-Sep-1986
"With the weapons in his possession, the Accused stabbed his victims in various parts of their bodies, tore pieces of flesh from their limbs and injured them with great force." � Israeli Indictment
As the reader peruses the fantastic things that are said about John Demjanjuk in the indictment below, he would do well to keep in mind that today the accusation that John Demjanjuk had ever set foot in Treblinka has been abandoned, and the counter-accusation that there is no credible evidence that the death camp Treblinka that was depicted by the prosecution had ever existed is gaining ground.  Thus, the indictment of John Demjanjuk below stands as an eternal disgrace to the US Office of Special Investigations which inspired it, and to the State of Israel which wrote it.  In earlier days, this indictment was accepted as falling into the realm of law; today it is increasingly understood to fall into the realm of abnormal psychology.

Below are actually three documents which were given to UKAR stapled together, and which are reproduced together for that reason: the Indictment, the Petition for the Arrest of John Demjanjuk, and Israel's Nazi Collaborators Law under which John Demjanjuk was tried.

The table of contents page below was not present in the original, but was prepared for the Ukrainian Archive, as were the page numbers above each page.  Clickable intra-document links were of course not present in the original copy, and are identified below as colored and underlined text which turn the mouse arrow into a pointing hand.  However, the original paper documents did contain underlining which can be distinguished from clickable links below by the underlining being in black and white and turning the mouse arrow into an insertion bar, just as non-underlined text does.

In navigating any long document, the following commands are useful: CTRL+HOME takes you to the very top of the document, and CTRL+END takes you to the very bottom; CTRL+F will allow you to find a string that you specify.  Don't forget how useful the BACK button on your browser can be.

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CONTENTS

INDICTMENT
   STATEMENT OF THE FACTS
A. "OPERATION REINHARDT"  1 2 3 4
B. THE SS TRAINING CAMP AT TRAWNIKI  5 6
C. THE DEATH CAMPS OF OPERATION REINHARDT  6 7 8
D. THE TREBLINKA DEATH CAMP  8 9
       The Reception and Living Quarters Area  9 10
       The Death Area  10 11
E. THE WORK PARTIES  11 12
F. THE PROCESS OF MASS MURDER  12 13 14
G. THE REVOLT AND THE DISMANTLING OF THE CAMP  15
   THE ACCUSED
H. HISTORY OF THE ACCUSED PRIOR TO HIS ENLISTMENT IN THE SS AUXILIARIES  15 16
I. THE ACCUSED'S ENLISTMENT IN THE SS AUXILIARIES  16 17
J. THE ACCUSED'S PART IN THE MASS MURDERS AT THE GAS CHAMBERS  17 18
K. MURDER AND TORMENT OF JEWS IN THE WORK PARTIES  19 20 21
L. THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH THE DEEDS WERE COMMITTED  22
M. THE OFFENCES COMMITTED BY THE ACCUSED  23
   PROVISIONS OF THE ENACTMENT UNDER WHICH THE ACCUSED IS CHARGED  23 24
   NAMES OF THE PROSECUTION WITNESSES
       Israel   24
       Poland   25
       Germany  25
       Belgium  25
       USA      26

PETITION FOR THE ARREST OF THE RESPONDENT 
   Grounds supporting this petition  1 2 3 4

NAZIS AND NAZI COLLABORATORS (PUNISHMENT) LAW, 5710-1950
       154 155 156 157 158

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Indictment   Israel vs. Demjanjuk   29Sep86            p. 1


TRANSLATION


In the District Court of Jerusalem
(Special Panel) 		     Criminal Case 373/86


STATE OF ISRAEL

by the State Attorney's Office
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah-a-Din Street
Jerusalem

       The Accuser

versus

IVAN (JOHN), son of Nicholai, DEMJANJUK
Born at Dub Macharenzi, Ukraine, Soviet Union, on April 3, 1920
Lately residing in the State of Ohio, U.S.A.
At present in custody in Israel

       The Accused


INDICTMENT


The Accused is hereby charged as follows:

Statement of the Facts


A.  "OPERATION REINHARDT"


 1.  (a)  With the rise of the Nazi Party to power, the persecution of the Jews became the official policy of Germany.  Between 1933 and 1945 Germany's leaders developed this policy and carried it out in stages � beginning with measures to isolate and dispossess the Jews and culminating with their annihilation in all territories subject to the rule or influence of the Third Reich.
  (b)  The Nazis called this plan of annihilation the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question in Europe."
 2.  (a)  On September 21, 1939, shortly after Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland, the commanders of the SS Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) were

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    ordered to concentrate all the Jews of Poland in large cities situated near main railway lines.
  (b)  This step was intended to facilitate all future measures to be taken with regard to the Jewish population.
 3.  (a)  Within a short time, the Nazis had concentrated most of the Jews of Poland in the large cities; in the spring of 1940 the Nazis began to enclose the Jews in ghettos.
  (b)  The condition of the Jews living in the ghettos rapidly deteriorated as a result of confiscation, overcrowding, disease, starvation, degradation and forced labor.  Many of the ghetto inhabitants were murdered while others, whose strength was sapped by the hardships, collapsed under the burden of the conditions and died.
  (c)  In this way, the Nazis prepared the ground for the last stage of their program for a "Final Solution" � the transport of the Jews remaining in the ghettos to death camps.
 4.  (a)  On July 31, 1941, Hermann Goering, Hitler's deputy, authorized Reinhardt Heydrich, the head of the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA), to make all the preparations required to implement the "Final Solution" in all areas of Europe subject to the influence of Nazi Germany.
  (b) At this time, the SS Einsatzgruppen were already engaged in the mass murder of the Jews of the U.S.S.R. and Eastern Poland.  This mass murder accompanied the movement of the Wehrmacht forces right from the time they invaded the U.S.S.R. on June 22, 1941 and was in the main carried

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    out by shooting the Jews in ravines close to the towns and villages in which they lived.
 5.  (a)  On January 20, 1942, Heydrich convened a conference in Berlin, which was later known as the "Wannsee Conference."  At this conference, senior representatives of the Reich authorities decided on the practical steps to be taken to implement the plan for the "Final Solution."
  (b)  The conference also considered beginning implementation of the plan by annihilating the Jews living in the "Generalgouvernement" area of Poland (hereinafter � the "General Government").  In these deliberations, the conference took into account the reasons for doing so propounded by the representatives of the General Government.
 6.  (a)  About the time of the Wannsee conference, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, appointed Odilo Globocnik to be commander of the operation for the annihilation of Polish Jewry within the area of the General Government.  Globocnik set up his headquarters in the town of Lublin, Poland.
  (b)  SS Headquarters and the Reich Security Main Office, together with the SS and Police commanders of the various districts of the General Government, were jointly responsible for managing the entire operation.
  (c)  This annihilation plan was later known as "Operation Reinhardt," after Reinhardt Heydrich, who was killed in May 1942 by the Czech underground.

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 7.  (a)  A small group of SS personnel, some hundred in number, were assigned to the command of Globocnik.  The members of this group were to serve as leaders of the death camps to be set up under Operation Reinhardt.  Between the years 1939 and 1940 these personnel had specialized in murdering mentally ill persons in Germany in gas chambers specially constructed for this purpose.  This program was known at the time as the "Euthanasia Program."
  (b)  In addition to these SS personnel, Soviet prisoners-of-war, who had expressed their readiness to serve the Nazis, were recruited for Operation Reinhardt (hereinafter � the "auxiliaries").  The auxiliaries were prepared for their tasks at the SS training camp at Trawniki and some of them were later assigned to serve in the death camps.
  (c)  The auxiliaries played an essential role in the annihilation of the Jews; without them, the commanders of Operation Reinhardt could not have carried out their plan.
  (d)  Serving as one of these auxiliaries was the Accused.

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B.  THE SS TRAINING CAMP AT TRAWNIKI     
 8.  (a)  In the autumn of 1941, a camp know officially as a "Training Camp of the SS" was set up near the village of Trawniki, 36 kilometers east of the city of Lublin (hereinafter � the "Trawniki Camp").
  (b)  The Trawniki Camp served as an important link in Operation Reinhardt by supplying trained personnel and equipment for the annihilation program.
 9.    The commander of the Trawniki Camp, from shortly after its establishment until its dissolution in July 1944, was an SS officer, Karl Streibel, who was directly subordinate to Globocnik's headquarters in Lublin.
10.  (a)  Streibel and his assistants recruited from prisoner-of-war camps � among them, the camps at Rovno and Chelm � Soviet prisoners-of-war to serve with the auxiliaries.
  (b)  After these recruits were enlisted as soldiers, they received personal numbers and identity cards and swore an oath of allegiance to the SS.  In this way, their status was changed from that of prisoners-of-war to that of soldiers in the service of the SS, having rights and duties.
11.  (a)  During their stay at the Trawniki Camp, the auxiliaries acted together with the SS personnel in carrying out all tasks connected with the annihilation program.  Among their other tasks, the auxiliaries participated in round-ups in the ghettos, put down any displays of resistance, guarded the freight trains used to transport the Jews to the death camps and prevented attempts to escape from the trains.

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  (b)  Many of the auxiliaries were sent to serve in the Operation Reinhardt death camps where they played a central role in the annihilation of the Jews.
  (c)  During their training at the Trawniki Camp, at all times during their stay at the Camp after completion of their training and even following their assignment to serve outside the Camp, the auxiliaries knew that they were partners in the annihilation of the Jewish people.
   
C.  THE DEATH CAMPS OF OPERATION REINHARDT     
12.    In accordance with the plan formulated at Operation Reinhardt Headquarters, three death camps were built in Eastern Poland between the months of February and July, 1942:

Belzec Camp
built in Galicia, some 40 kilometers north of Lvov, was planned to annihilate the Jews of the Krakow and Lvov districts and began operating in March 1942.

Sobibor Camp
built in Central Poland, east of Lublin, was planned to annihilate the Jews of the Lublin district and began operating in April 1942.

Treblinka Camp
built some 80 kilometers east of Warsaw, was planned to annihilate the Jews of the Warsaw and Radom districts and, later on, the Jews of the Bialystok district; it began operating in July, 1942.

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13.  (a)  The three camps operated as one entity in realizing the common aim of murdering the Jews of Poland and other countries conquered by Nazi Germany.
  (b)  The commanders of the camps and the Headquarters staff at Lublin improved upon the murder systems employed at the camps by exchanging information and by transferring experts, other personnel and equipment from one camp to the other.
14.  (a)  At each of the three camps, some 30 SS personnel, most of them veterans of the Euthanasia Program described above, were assigned to positions of command.
  (b)  In each camp, about one hundred auxiliaries, who had received their training at the Trawniki Camp, served under the command of the SS personnel.  These auxiliaries, in the main Ukrainians, worked together with the SS personnel in carrying out all the acts of annihilation, murder and oppression committed against the Jewish victims in the camps.
15.  (a)  The main focus of activity in each of the three death camps was the gas chamber facility, in which hundreds of thousands of victims were murdered.
  (b)  This facility was a concrete building, divided inside into separate chambers with doors which were sealed after the entry of the victims.

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    A powerful engine (diesel or petrol) was installed at the side of the building.  The engine's exhaust was attached to a network of pipes which branched out into the chambers.
  (c)  Operation of the engine sent poisonous fumes (carbon monoxide) flowing into the chambers and choked to death the masses of human beings within.
16.  (a)  The three death camps operated for about a year-and-a-half.
  (b)  During this period, some million, eight hundred thousand human beings were murdered in these camps.
  (c)  From amongst this community of martyrs, more than eight hundred and fifty thousand men, women and children were murdered at the Treblinka Camp.
   
D.  THE TREBLINKA DEATH CAMP     
17.  (a)  The commanders of Operation Reinhardt set up the Treblinka Camp not far from the Malkinia-Siedlce railway line, in a wooded area hidden from view.
  (b)  Construction of the camp began at the end of April 1942.  When the work was finished in July 1942, a camp had been erected on the site, built in rectangular form and surrounded by barbed wire fences and watchtowers, manned by armed guards from amongst the Ukrainian auxiliaries.

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18.       The Camp was divided into two main areas � the reception and living quarters area and the death area.  These areas are described below in sections 19 to 31.
       The Reception and Living Quarters Area
19.       The side railway spur led from the Treblinka railway station to a platform built in the Reception Area of the Camp.  This platform was known as "the Ramp" and the victims were forced down onto it as soon as the freight cars arrived at the camp.
20.       Opposite the Ramp was a fenced-off plot known as the "Transport Area" in which the men were compelled to undress.  In a hut set up on the edge of this plot, the women and children were forced to remove their clothes.  The "Barber's Shop" operated in this hut and here the women's hair was shorn from their heads before they were driven to the gas chambers.
21.       To the side of the Transport Area was the Sorting Area, in which the clothes and possessions of the victims were piled up and sorted out into giant parcels.
22.       At the southern edge of the Reception Area was the "Lazaret."  In order to deceive the victims, the facade of this structure was camouflaged as a field hospital and for this reason it was called a Lazaret.  In fact, the place served as a site for the execution of those victims who were physically incapable of reaching the gas chambers on their own.

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23.       To the north of the Reception Area were the living quarters of the SS personnel and the auxiliaries.  This area also comprised administration huts, workshops, stables and the like.  A path, for the use of the SS personnel and auxiliaries only, led from the living quarters to a gate in the fence surrounding the death area.  Within the living quarters area, a small section was fenced off on all sides with barbed wire.  The Jews who were forced to work in the Reception Area lived in huts in this section.
24.       The Reception Area and the living quarters were together known as "the Lower Camp" or "Camp 1" (hereinafter � "Camp 1").
       The Death Area
25.       Here the Jews were murdered in the gas chambers and their bodies buried in giant pits.
26.       Initially, the SS personnel set up a building containing three gas chambers, which were intended to meet the needs of the mass murder they had planned.  As time passed, it became clear to the commanders of Operation Reinhardt that these three chambers were insufficient to carry out the task of annihilating hundreds of thousands of victims within a short period of time.  They therefore erected a new building containing ten chambers � this in addition to the existing three chambers.  A powerful engine was linked to the two buildings and, when operated, discharged poisonous exhaust fumes into the chambers.

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27.       East of the gas chambers, enormous pits were dug into which were thrown the corpses of the murdered victims.  In March 1943, a device for burning the corpses was installed near the pits in order that all traces of the mass murder be wiped out.
28.       South of the gas chambers were dwelling huts.  Here were imprisoned the Jews who were forced to work mainly in burying corpses and in burning them.
29.       The whole of the Death Area was surrounded by an earth embankment and a barbed wire fence and was known as "the Upper Camp," or "Camp 2" (hereinafter � "Camp 2").
30.       The main passage leading from Camp 1 to Camp 2 was a path, which the Germans called the "Schlauch" (tube).  This path was also derisively called the "Himmelstrasse" (the Road to Heaven).  The passage was some 80 meters long and some three meters wide.  It was enclosed on both sides by high barbed wire fences.  The passage led from the transport area in Camp 1 directly to the entrance to the gas chambers in Camp 2 and the victims were driven through this passage to the gas chambers.
31.       Branches from the forest were woven into all the barbed wire fences in the Camp so as to hide what was being done from view.
         
E.  THE WORK PARTIES     
32.       The SS personnel used to select a small number of Jews from among the

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          hundreds of thousands of victims arriving at Treblinka and assign them to various "chores" which accompanied the process of annihilation (hereinafter � the "work parties").
33.       Initially, the Jews were employed in these chores for a short time and then murdered in the gas chambers or shot dead by the SS personnel and auxiliaries.  At a later stage, from autumn 1942, the SS personnel organized permanent work parties from among the Jewish prisoners, who were assigned to carry out their tasks for longer periods.
34.       The work parties were forced to carry out many chores, from sorting out mountainous piles of the possessions and property of the murdered victims to extracting gold teeth from the mouths of the corpses before they were thrown into the burial pits.
35.       The prisoners in the work parties were forced to carry out these duties under the threat of whipping, torture and execution, to which they were constantly subjected by the SS personnel and auxiliaries.
36.       When the annihilation process was at its peak, the number of prisoners in the permanent work parties in the whole Camp reached about 1,000 (about 800 in Camp 1, and about 200 in Camp 2).  Towards the summer of 1943, these numbers were much reduced as a result of acts of murder, death by epidemic and a reduction in the number of transports reaching the camp.
      
F.  THE PROCESS OF MASS MURDER     
37.       The trains which brought the Jews to Treblinka generally comprised some

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       60 sealed freight cars.  Over 100 people were crowded into each car.  The train halted at the Treblinka station and from there the freight cars were shunted into the Camp in groups of 20.
38.       As soon as the freight cars drew to a halt alongside the Ramp and their doors were opened, SS personnel and auxiliaries drove the Jews out of the freight cars under a hail of shots, blows and shouts.
39.       In the Transport Area, the women and little children were immediately separated from the men and they were all ordered to undress.  While the naked men gathered their possessions into piles outside, the women and children were forced to enter a special hut, where they were stripped of their clothes and the women's hair was shorn from their heads.
40.       Following these steps, the victims were driven, naked and terrified, through the Himmelstrasse into the gas chambers.  On both sides of the route were stationed SS personnel and auxiliaries, who lashed out mercilessly at the victims with whips.  Once the victims reached the threshold to the gas chambers, they were driven inside by the hundreds.  Then when the tight-fitting doors had been locked behind them, the victims were asphyxiated to death by the exhaust fumes of the engine.
41.       While the SS personnel and the auxiliaries were driving the victims on their way to their death, the prisoners in the work parties in Camp 1 were forced to clean the freight cars in order to prepare them for the next transport.  The prisoners were also forced to sort out the clothes and possessions of the murdered victims and to collect the remnants of their property.

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42.       When the process of killing the victims in the gas chambers was finished, the prisoners in the work parties in Camp 2 were forced to remove the corpses from the chambers and carry them to the burial pits.  On their way to the pits, those bearing the corpses stopped next to a group of prisoners who had to extract gold teeth from the mouths of the dead.
43.       Beginning in March 1943, devices for burning the corpses were installed at the Camp pursuant to a special order aimed at removing all traces of the mass murder.  From that time on, the corpses were carried directly from the gas chambers to the places where they were burned.  Concurrently, prisoners in the work parties were forced to exhume the remains of the hundreds of thousands of corpses previously interred in the pits and to carry them to the burning sites.  A special group of prisoners was even forced to grind to dust whatever remained of the bones of the murdered victims after their corpses had been burned.  All this was done so that no trace of what had been committed should remain.
44.  (a)  In the manner described above, more than 850,000 Jews were murdered at the Treblinka Death Camp between the months of July 1942 and August 1943.  Most of the victims came from the area of the General Government and from the Bialystok district.  The remainder came from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Slovakia, Saloniki and other areas in the Balkans.
  (b)  In addition, hundreds of gypsies were murdered at the "Lazaret" and in the gas chambers at the Treblinka Camp.

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G.  THE REVOLT AND THE DISMANTLING OF THE CAMP     
45.       On August 2, 1943 the surviving remnants of the work parties revolted against their oppressors.  Many of those who revolted were killed in the uprising, while others escaped to the neighboring woods.  A small number of those who escaped managed to survive until after the war.
46.       Shortly after the revolt, the gas chambers at Treblinka were operated for the last time.  Afterwards, the SS personnel and the auxiliaries dismantled the Camp's structures, wiped out the last Jews remaining in the Camp, burned the documents relating to the Camp, ploughed over the land and set up a farm on the site.
      
THE ACCUSED
      
H.  HISTORY OF THE ACCUSED PRIOR TO HIS ENLISTMENT IN THE SS AUXILIARIES   
47.       The Accused was born on April 3, 1920 in the village of Dub Macharenzi in the district, which is today known as Kazatin and was formerly known as Samgorodok, in the Ukraine, U.S.S.R.
48.       Prior to his call-up to the army, the Accused worked in the district as a farmer and tractor operator.
49.       In the winter of 1940-1941, the Accused was conscripted into the Soviet army and posted to an artillery unit.
50.       In 1941, during the fighting, the Accused was injured in his back by shrapnel from a shell and during the autumn months of that year stayed

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       in various front line hospitals until his recovery.  This injury left a scar on his back which remains to this day.
51.       Following his recovery, the Accused was posted to another artillery unit which, at the end of 1941, was sent to the front in the Crimean Peninsula.
52.       At some date between his above posting and May 21, 1942, the Accused was taken prisoner by the Germans in the battles in the Kerch area of the Crimean Peninsula.
53.       Following his capture, the Accused, together with other prisoners-of-war from the same battle area, was transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp at Rovno in the Western Ukraine, an area which at that time was under the control of the German army.
      
I.  THE ACCUSED'S ENLISTMENT IN THE SS AUXILIARIES
     
54.       At some date after the Accused's transfer to the Rovno prisoner-of-war camp and no later than July 19, 1942, the Accused was recruited to the SS auxiliaries from the prisoner-of-war camp in which he was being held and transferred to the Trawniki Training Camp.
55.       On his arrival at Trawniki, the Accused was given Identity No. 1393 and went through regular induction procedures, including receipt of an identity card bearing his photograph and personal particulars.  In this Camp, the Accused was trained to serve with the auxiliaries, who were to perform duties within the framework of Operation Reinhardt.

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56.       No later than the beginning of October 1942, the Accused was transferred to the Treblinka Death Camp, where he served with the SS auxiliaries for some eleven months, i.e., at least until September 1943.
57.       During this period, at a date close to March 27, 1943, the Accused served for a short time at the Sobibor Death Camp.
58.       Immediately following his arrival at Treblinka, the Accused was assigned to Camp 2, where he carried out most of the acts described below.
      
J.  THE ACCUSED'S PART IN THE MASS MURDERS AT THE GAS CHAMBERS    
59.       The Accused played an essential and active role in all stages of the annihilation of the Jews in the gas chambers at Treblinkla.
60.       The Accused used to stand at the entrance to the gas chambers, sometimes armed with a sword or bayonet, sometimes with a whip or iron pipe.  Whenever a group of naked Jews, coming from the Himmelstrasse, would arrive at the vicinity of the gas chambers, the Accused would force his victims into the chambers whilst tormenting them on their way to their death.
61.       With the weapons in his possession, the Accused stabbed his victims in various parts of their bodies, tore pieces of flesh from their limbs and injured them with great force.  All this was done whilst the

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       victims, bleeding profusely, were driven into the gas chambers.
62.       The Accused forced a maximum number of victims into the gas chambers so as to exploit to the full the volume of the chamber and to hasten the victims' deaths.
63.       After taking part in driving the victims into the gas chambers, the Accused proceeded to the engine room and operated the motor which sent poisonous exhaust fumes into the chambers.  In this way, the Accused, by his own acts, caused the death of hundreds of thousands of human beings.
64.       From time to time, the Accused used to select individual victims for his torments from amongst those going to their deaths in the gas chambers.  On more than one occasion the Accused selected an elderly Jew, adorned with beard and side-locks, and led him naked to the nearby barbed wire fence.  The Accused would place his victim's head between the taut strands of wire, whilst beating the unfortunate man's body with his whip.  The victim, writhing about from the severity of the pain, would strangle himself to death on the strands of barbed wire between which his head was trapped.
65.       Sometimes the Accused would join the SS personnel and auxiliaries in Camp 1 when victims were being removed from the trains to the "Ramp."  Here, too, the Accused would excel in the blows he inflicted on his victims, and, on one occasion at least, shot and killed a young woman who tried to escape.

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K.  MURDER AND TORMENT OF JEWS IN THE WORK PARTIES    
66.       In addition to his role in operating the gas chambers and in tormenting the victims driven into them, the Accused regularly murdered prisoners from among the work parties in Camp 2.
67.       In both parts of the Treblinka Camp, the SS personnel and auxiliaries operated a system for slaughtering prisoners in the work parties.  Whenever a member of the SS personnel or an auxiliary wounded a prisoner on his face or body, that prisoner was regarded as "marked."  Marking a prisoner in this way meant that the prisoner would be executed by shooting that very same day.  The Accused was aware of this system and used to slice the noses or cut off the ears of prisoners with the sword or bayonet in his possession.  By doing so, the Accused condemned the victims to death since they would be shot dead that very day, as explained above.
68.       In one of many such incidents, the Accused cut off the ear of a prisoner named David Auslander and sent him on his way, bleeding profusely.  Despite his serious injury the prisoner carried on with his work � carrying corpses to the pits.  When he reached the edge of the pit, the prisoner was shot dead by the SS man stationed there.
69.       Sometimes the Accused was not satisfied just to "mark" the victim, but ordered him to undress and then shot the victim himself.
70.  (a)  More than once, prisoners from the work parties tried to save themselves by escaping from the Treblinka Death Camp.  Most of these

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Indictment   Israel vs. Demjanjuk   29Sep86         p. 20

       attempts at flight ended in the capture of the fugitives.  The fate of such a captured fugitive was always to die under torture in front of all the prisoners of the camp.
  (b)  At the beginning of winter 1942, the SS personnel in Camp 2 suspected that a number of prisoners were planning to escape.  At a parade held to investigate this suspicion, some 25 persons were arbitrarily taken out of the ranks of prisoners on parade.  The Accused, together with other SS personnel and auxiliaries, fell upon these prisoners and beat their heads with his iron pipe until they died.
71.       In another incident, at the beginning of winter 1942, five prisoners from Camp 2 fled into the forest.  Three of them were caught and brought back to the Camp, tied up and thrown down in the snow and frost.  The Accused tortured these prisoners by shattering their limbs with the iron pipe that he carried.  Towards evening, as they lay dying from the Accused's blows, the three were hanged at the place designated for this purpose in Camp 2.
72.  (a)  Whipping played a large part in the punishment meted out at the Treblinka Death Camp.  The victim was forced to lie on his stomach, with buttocks bared and was then tied to a special whipping bench.  Sometimes the victim was required to count aloud the number of blows without making a mistake; at other times, he was forced to keep quiet despite his pain.

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Indictment   Israel vs. Demjanjuk   29Sep86         p. 21

  (b)  In Camp 2, the Accused was among the leading "whippers" and used to excel in the blows he inflicted on the victims with his lash.  The Accused used to beat victims to death or shoot those who erred in counting or cried out from the intensity of the pain.
73.       As part of the torments he inflicted on prisoners from the work parties, the Accused one day ordered a Camp 2 prisoner named Finkelstein to lay face down on the ground and to roll down his trousers.  When the prisoner had done so, the Accused took a tool for drilling wood and drilled a hole into the prisoner's buttocks.
74.       In another case, the Accused forced one of the prisoners to have sexual relations with a girl who remained alive after the corpses had been removed from the chambers following the gassing process.
75.  (a)  Towards summer 1943, the transports to Treblinka lessened, since the work of annihilation had been almost completed.  The Accused was then employed in accompanying work parties that went out to cut down trees in the forest outside the Camp.
  (b)  The Accused frequently tormented the prisoners at their work in the forest and shot them to death.
76.       Because of his special cruelty, the Accused was nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible" � the only name by which the Accused was recognized and known to many of the prisoners in the Death Camp.

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Indictment   Israel vs. Demjanjuk   29Sep86         p. 22

      
L.  THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH THE DEEDS WERE COMMITTED    
77.       In his deeds described above, the Accused displayed his hatred for members of the Jewish people.  The circumstances prevailing in the Camp and the powers with which the Accused was invested enabled him to express this hatred in all its intensity and to realize his intention of annihilating the Jewish people by participating in their mass murder.
78.       The Accused committed the deeds attributed to him in this Indictment in 1942 and 1943.  These years were part of "the period of the Nazi regime" and "the period of the Second World War," as these terms were defined in the Nazi and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, 5710-1950.
79.       The Accused committed the deeds attributed to him in this Indictment in the General Government area of Poland, a territory that was subject to the rule of Nazi Germany and, as such, was regarded as "enemy country," as this term is defined in the said Law.
80.       The victims of the deeds attributed to the Accused in this Indictment were Jews who were persecuted by the Nazi regime and are therefore to be regarded as "persecuted persons," as this term is defined in the said Law.

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Indictment   Israel vs. Demjanjuk   29Sep86         p. 23

      
M.  THE OFFENCES COMMITTED BY THE ACCUSED    
81.       In his deeds described above, the Accused � together with other persons � caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews with the intention of destroying the Jewish People in whole or in part.  By so doing, he committed crimes against the Jewish people.
82.       In his deeds described above, the Accused � together with other persons � took part in the murder and annihilation of a civilian population.  By so doing, he committed crimes against humanity.
83.       In his deeds described above, the Accused � together with other persons � in a conquered territory, took part in the murder of members of the civilian populations of countries conquered by Nazi Germany.  By so doing, the Accused committed war crimes.
84.       In his deeds described above, the Accused, with premeditated intent, caused the death of persecuted persons as such.  By so doing, the Accused committed crimes against persecuted persons; had he carried out those acts in Israeli territory, the Accused would have been guilty of offences of murder under section 300 of the Penal Law, 5737-1977.
   
PROVISIONS OF THE ENACTMENT UNDER WHICH THE ACCUSED IS CHARGED
 1.       Crime against the Jewish people, an offence under section 1(a)(1), as defined in section 1(b)(1) of the Nazi and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, 5710-1950.

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Indictment   Israel vs. Demjanjuk   29Sep86         p. 24

 2.       Crime against humanity, an offence under section 1(a)(2), as defined in section 1(b) of the said Law.
 3.       War crime, an offence under section 1(a)(3), as defined in section 1(b) of the said Law.
 4.       Crimes against persecuted persons under section 2(f) of the said Law, together with section 300 of the Penal Law, 5737-1977.
   
NAMES OF THE PROSECUTION WITNESSES
       Israel
      1.  Eliyahu Rosenberg
   2.  Pinhas Epstein
   3.  Sonia Lewkowitz
   4.  Yehiel Reichman
   5.  Josef Czarny
   6.  Yakov Shmulewitz
   7.  Shalom Kohn
   8.  Gustav Boraks
   9.  Y. Boraks
  10.  Dr. Yitzhak Arad, historian, Chairman of Yad Va-Shem
  *  11.  Miriam Radiwker, former investigator with the Unit for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes, Israel Police
  12.  Martin Kolar, former investigator with the Unit for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes, Israel Police
  *  13.  A. Kozlowski, former investigator with the Unit for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes, Israel Police
  *  14.  Wolf Paluszewski, former investigator with the Unit for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes, Israel Police
  *  15.  Michael Goldman, former investigator with the 06 Bureau, Israel Police
 

  *  These witnesses will submit, inter alia, the statements of the late Abraham Goldfarb, Eugen Turowski, Abraham Lindwasser, and Georg Rajgrodski, and reports from photo identifications conducted with them.

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     16.  Assistant Commander Alex Ish-Shalom, National Unit for Criminal Investigation, Israel Police
     17.  Sergeant-Major Zvi Shalom Tamari, National Unit for Criminal Investigation, Israel Police
     18.  Inspector Izia Sobelman, National Unit for Criminal Investigation, Israel Police
     19.  Chief Superintendent Zvi Ariel, National Unit for Criminal Investigation, Israel Police
     20.  Superintendent A. Kaplan, National Unit for Criminal Investigation, Israel Police
     21.  Dr. Shmuel Krakowski, Chief Archivist of Yad Va-Shem
     22.  Bronka Klibanski, Yad Va-Shem
     23.  Rehavat Amir, former Minister of the Israel Legation in Poland
     24.  Prof. Abraham Alsberg, State Archivist (who will submit documents and testimonies from Criminal Case 40/61, the State of Israel v. A. Eichmann, of the District Court in Jerusalem)
     25.  Expert on military history
       Poland
     26.  Franciszek Zabecki
     27.  Jozef Kuzminski
     28. Z. Lukaszkiewicz, Judge-Investigator under the auspices of the Main Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland
       Germany
     29.  Prof. Wolfgang Scheffler, historian
     30.  Helge Grabitz, Senior Prosecutor in Hamburg
     31.  Daniel Simon, Director of the Berlin Document Center
     32.  Norbert Blazy, Senior Prosecutor in Duesseldorf
     33.  Paul Ellenbogen, Court Reporter and Notary Public
     34.  H. Chanteaux, Senior Prosecutor in Duesseldorf
     35.  F. Doms, Legal Clerk in the Zentralle Stelle der Landesjustizverwaltung zur Aufklaerung nationalsozialistischer Verbrechen, Ludwigsburg
     36.  Otto Horn
     37.  Willy Maetzig
     38.  Heinrich Schaefer
     39.  Helmut Leonhardt
       Belgium
     40.  Vladas Amanaviczius

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Indictment   Israel vs. Demjanjuk   29Sep86         p. 26

          United States of America
     41.  Gideon Epstein, Forensic Document Expert
     42.  Daniel Segat, former Chief Eligibility Officer for the International Refugee Organization (IRO)
     43.  Leo Curry, former Case Analyst for the Displaced Persons Commission (DPC)
     44.  Harold Lee Henrikson, former United States Vice Consul in Germany
     45.  Richard Pritchard, former Assistant Director of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Cleveland
     46.  Linda S. Kulhanek, Court Reporter and Notary Public
     47.  Joseph S. Corsillo, Court Reporter and Notary Public
     48.  Lyle Karn, District Director of INS, Philadelphia
     49.  Jack F. Wohl, Courtroom Deputy Clerk in United States District Court, Cleveland
     50.  Russell E. Ezolt, District Counsel, INS, Cleveland
     51.  Robert Wolfe, Chief of Military Reference Branch, Military Archives Division, U.S. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
     52.  Lee Koury, U.S. Marshal
     53.  Richard Edwin Schroeder, U.S. Marshal
       All of the above witnesses will be summoned by the prosecution.
       Jerusalem,
29 September, 1986
25 Elul, 5746
       Yosef Harish              
Attorney General          

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Petition 365/86    Israel vs. Demjanjuk    29Sep86         p. 1

TRANSLATION


In the District Court of Jerusalem
      Criminal Case 373/86
     Petition      365/86


STATE OF ISRAEL

by the State Attorney's Office
Ministry of Justice
29 Salah-a-Din Street
Jerusalem

       The Petitioner

versus

IVAN (JOHN), son of Nicholai, DEMJANJUK
Born at Dub Macharenzi, Ukraine, Soviet Union, on April 3, 1920
Lately residing in the State of Ohio, U.S.A.
At present in custody in Israel

       The Respondent


PETITION FOR THE ARREST OF THE RESPONDENT
UNTIL COMPLETION OF THE CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS AGAINST
HIM IN CRIMINAL CASE 373/86


    Pursuant to section 21(a) of the Criminal Procedure Law (Consolidated Version), 5742-1982, this honorable Court is asked to order the arrest of the Respondent until completion of the criminal proceedings against him in Criminal Case 373/86.


The grounds supporting this petition are as follows:
1.    An indictment has been filed against the Respondent in Criminal Case 373/86, charging him with crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against

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Petition 365/86    Israel vs. Demjanjuk    29Sep86         p. 2

      humanity, war crimes, and crimes against persecuted persons, in violation of the provisions of the Nazi and Nazi Collaborators (Punishment) Law, 5710-1950.
      A copy of the indictment is attached hereto.
2.    As described in detail in the indictment, the Respondent is charged with crimes of incomparable severity, which he committed in 1942 and 1943, while serving with the SS auxiliaries in the Treblinka Death Camp.  The Respondent took part in forcing Jews and others into the gas chambers at the Camp, operated the motor by which the victims were asphyxiated, and in this way caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of human beings.  In addition, the Respondent is charged with the murder of numerous Jews from among the "work parties" in the Death Camp, whom he tormented to death.
      On account of these acts and his infamous cruelty, the Respondent was nicknamed "Ivan the Terrible" by the prisoners in the Camp.
3.    The Petitioner possesses an extensive body of evidence to prove the Respondent's guilt:
         (a)  Testimonies of Treblinka Death Camp survivors, who were imprisoned there in "work parties" and who knew the Respondent from this period at the Camp.  These witnesses will testify both to the Respondent's deeds and to his identification.  Several of these survivors gave details of the

                   

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Petition 365/86    Israel vs. Demjanjuk    29Sep86         p. 3

           Respondent's evil deeds as early as 1945 or shortly thereafter; others did so later on.

                   
           At photospread identifications, the witnesses identified the Respondent as "Ivan the Terrible" from the Treblinka Camp by reference to photographs taken in 1942 and 1951.

                   
         (b)  Additional evidence identifying the Respondent as "Ivan the Terrible" is contained in the testimony of a German member of the SS, who served in Treblinka in close proximity to the Respondent, knew him from this period of service at Treblinka and identified him at a photospread identification conducted in Germany.

                   
         (c)  Another important link in the Petitioner's evidence in its case against the Respondent is a service identity card that was issued to the Respondent by the commander of the SS Training Camp at Trawniki (Poland).  This identity card bears the Respondent's picture and records his personal particulars, including a special distinguishing mark � a scar on the Respondent's back � which still exists today.

                   
           The identity card testifies to the Respondent's service with the SS auxiliaries who operated in the death camps in Poland.

                   

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Petition 365/86    Israel vs. Demjanjuk    29Sep86         p. 4

           Against the background of the Respondent's claim that he was never trained at Trawniki and that he never served in the SS auxiliaries or at the death camps, the identity card constitutes unequivocal evidence to refute his claim and to prove his involvement in the annihilation of the Jews.

                   
         (d)  The Petitioner possesses additional evidence to prove the facts set out in the indictment and to demonstrate the Respondent's guilt.

                   
4.    The Respondent is charged with crimes punishable by death, and in accordance with the provisions of section 34 of the Criminal Procedure Law (Consolidated Version), 5742-1982, he is not to be released on bail.
      In view of the nature of the crimes attributed to the Respondent � which are amongst the most serious and awful in human history � the firm evidentiary basis against the Respondent and the legislator's requirement as set out in section 34 of the Criminal Procedure Law (Consolidated Version), 5742-1982, this honorable Court is requested to order the arrest of the Respondent until the completion of the criminal proceedings against him in Criminal Case 373/86.

 
Jerusalem,
25 Elul, 5746
29 September, 1986

Y. Blatman          
State Attorney      


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NAZIS AND NAZI COLLABORATORS (PUNISHMENT) LAW, 5710-1950        p. 154

  No. 64
NAZIS AND NAZI COLLABORATORS (PUNISHMENT) LAW, 5710-1950•
Crimes
against the
Jewish
people,
crimes
against
humanity and
war crimes.		 1.  (a)  A person who has committed one of the following offences �
(1) done, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country, an act constituting a crime against the Jewish people;
(2) done, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country, an act constituting a crime against humanity;
(3) done, during the period of the Second World War, in an enemy country, an act constituting a war crime,
  is liable to the death penalty.
    (b) In this section �
"crimes against the Jewish people" means any of the following acts, committed with intent to destroy the Jewish people in whole or in part:
      (1) killing Jews;
(2) causing serious bodily or mental harm to Jews;
(3) placing Jews in living conditions calculated to bring about their physical destruction;
(4) imposing measures intended to prevent births among Jews;
(5) forcibly transferring Jewish children to another national or religious group;
(6) destroying or desecrating Jewish religious or cultural assets or values;
(7) inciting to hatred of Jews;
    "crime against humanity" means any of the following acts:
      murder, extermination, enslavement, starvation or deportation and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, and persecution on national, racial, religious or political grounds;
    "war crime" means any of the following acts:
      murder, ill-treatment or deportation to forced labour or for any other
 
  • Passed by the Knesset on the 18th Av. 5710 (1st August, 1950) and published in Sefer Ila-Chukkim No. 57 of the 26th Av. 5710 (9th August, 1950), p. 281: the Bill and an Explanatory Note were published in Ilatra'at Chok No. 36 of the 11th Adar, 5710 (28th February, 1950), p. 119.

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NAZIS AND NAZI COLLABORATORS (PUNISHMENT) LAW, 5710-1950        p. 155

      purpose, of civilian population of or in occupied territory; murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas; killing of hostages; plunder of public or private property; wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages; and devastation not justified by military necessity.
Crimes
against
persecuted
persons.		 2.  If a person, during the period of the Nazi regime, committed in an enemy country an act by which, had he committed it in Israel territory, he would have become guilty of an offence under one of the following sections of the Criminal Code, and he committed the act against a persecuted person as a persecuted person he shall be guilty of an offence under this Law and be liable to the same punishment to which he would have been liable had he committed the act in Israel territory:
    (a) section 152 (rape, sexual and unnatural offences);
(b) section 153 (rape by deception);
(c) section 157 (indecent act with force, etc.);
(d) section 168 (child stealing);
(e) section 212 (manslaughter);
(f) section 214 (murder);
(g) section 222 (attempt to murder);
(h) section 235 (acts intended to cause grievous harm or prevent arrests);
(i) section 236 (preventing escape from wreck);
(j) section 238 (grievous harm);
(k) section 240 (maliciously administering poison with intent to harm);
(l) section 256 (abducting in order to murder);
(m) section 258 (abducting in order to subject person to grievous hurt);
(n) section 268 (robbery and attempted robbery);
(o) section 293 (demanding property with menaces with intent to steal).
Membership
in enemy
organisation.		 3.  (a) A person who, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country, was a member of, or held any post or exercised any function in, an enemy organisation is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding seven years.
    (b)  In this section, "enemy organisation" means �
      (1) a body of persons which, under article 9 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal, annexed to the Four-Power Agreement of the 8th August, 1945, on the trial of the major war criminals, has been declared, by a judgement of that Tribunal, to be a criminal organisation;
(2) any other body of persons which existed in an enemy country and the object or one of the objects of which was to carry out or assist in carrying out actions of an enemy administration directed against persecuted persons.
Offences in
places of
confinement.		 4.  (a) A person who, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country and while exercising some function in a place of confinement on behalf of an enemy administration or of the person in charge of that place of confinement, committed in that place of confinement an act against a persecuted person by which, had he committed it in Israel territory, he would have become guilty of an offence under one of the following sections of the Criminal Code, shall be guilty of an offence under this Law and be liable to the same punishment to which he would have been liable had he committed the act in Israel territory:

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NAZIS AND NAZI COLLABORATORS (PUNISHMENT) LAW, 5710-1950        p. 156

          (1) section 100 (c) (threatening violence);
(2) section 162 (procuring defilement of females by threats, fraud or administering drugs);
(3) section 241 (wounding and similar acts);
(4) section 242 (failure to supply necessaries);
(5) section 249 (common assault);
(6) section 250 (assault causing actual bodily harm);
(7) section 261 (unlawful compulsory labour);
(8) section 270 (theft).
        (b) "Place of confinement", in this section, means any place in an enemy country which, by order of an enemy administration, was assigned to persecuted persons, and includes any part of such a place.
Delivering up
persecuted
person to
enemy
administration.		 5.  A person who, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country, was instrumental in delivering up a persecuted person to an enemy administration, is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years.
Blackmailing
persecuted
persons.		 6.  A person who, during the period of the Nazi regime, in an enemy country, received or demanded a benefit �
        (a) from a persecuted person under threat of delivering up him or another persecuted person to an enemy administration; or

(b) from a person who had given shelter to a persecuted person, under threat of delivering up him or the persecuted person sheltered by him to an enemy administration,
    is liable to imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years.
Application
of General
Criminal
Code.		 7.  The provisions of the First Part of the Criminal Code shall, save as this Law otherwise provides, apply to offences under this Law.
Certain
sections
not to apply.		 8.  Sections 16, 17, 18 and 19 of the Criminal Code shall not apply to offences under this Law.
Res
judicata.		 9.  (a) A person who has committed an offence under this Law may be tried in Israel even if he has already been tried abroad, whether before an international tribunal or a tribunal of a foreign state, for the same offence.

    (b) If a person is convicted in Israel of an offence under this Law after being convicted of the same act abroad, the Israel court shall, in determining the punishment, take into consideration the sentence which he has served abroad.
Release from
criminal
responsibility.		 10.  If a persecuted person has done or omitted to do any act, such act or omission constituting an offence under this Law, the Court shall release him from criminal responsibility �
        (a) if he did or omitted to do the act in order to save himself from the danger of immediate death threatening him and the court is satisfied that he did his best to avert the consequences of the act or omission; or

(b) if he did or omitted to do the act with intent to avert consequences more serious than those which resulted from the act or omission, and actually averted them;
    however, these provisions shall not apply to an act or omission constituting an offence under section 1 or 2(f).

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NAZIS AND NAZI COLLABORATORS (PUNISHMENT) LAW, 5710-1950        p. 157

Extenuating
circum-
stances.		 11.  In determining the punishment of a person convicted of an offence under this Law, the court may take into account, as grounds for mitigating the punishment, the following circumstances:
        (a) that the person committed the offence under conditions which, but for section 8, would have exempted him from criminal responsibility or constituted a reason for pardoning the offence, and that he did his best to reduce the gravity of the consequences of the offence;

(b) that the offence was committed with intent to avert, and was indeed calculated to avert, consequences more serious than those which resulted from the offence;
    however, in the case of an offence under section 1, the court shall not impose on the offender a lighter punishment than imprisonment for a term of ten years.
Prescription 12.  (a) The rules of prescription laid down in the Fifth Chapter of the Ottoman Code of Criminal Procedure shall not apply to offences under this Law.
REPEALED      (b) No person shall be prosecuted for an offence under this Law, except an offence under section 1 or 2(f), if twenty years have passed since the time of the offence.
General
amnesty
not to apply.		 13.  The provisions of the General Amnesty Ordinance, 5709 � 19491), shall not apply to offences under this Law.
Institution
of
prosecution.		 14.  A prosecution for an offence under this Law may only be initiated by the Attorney General or his representative.
Evidence. 15.  (a) In an action for an offence under this Law, the court may deviate from the rules of evidence if it is satisfied that this will promote the ascertainment of the truth and the just handling of the case.

     (b) Whenever the court decides to deviate, under subsection (a), from the rules of evidence, it shall place on the record the reasons which prompted its decision.
Interpreta-
tion.		 16.  In this Law �
        "the period of the Nazi regime" means the period which began on the 3rd Shevat, 5693 (30th January, 1933) and ended on the 25th Iyar, 5705 (8th May, 1945);

"the period of the Second World War" means the period which began on 17th Elul, 5699 (1st September, 1939) and ended on the 5th Elul, 5705 (14th August, 1945);

"the Allied Powers" means the states which signed the Declaration of the United Nations of the 1st January, 1942, or acceded to it during the period of the Second World War:

"Axis state" means a state which during the whole or part of the period of the Second World War was at war with the Allied Powers; the period which began on the day of the beginning of the state of war between a particular Axis state and the first, in time, of the Allied Powers and ended on the day of the cessation of hostilities between that state and the last, in time, of the Allied Powers, shall be considered as the period of the war between that state and the Allied Powers;

"enemy country" means �
            (a) Germany during the period of the Nazi regime;

(b) any other Axis state during the period of the war between it and the Allied Powers;
 
    1) I.R. No. 50 of the 12th Shevat, 5709 (11th February, 1949), Suppl. I, p. 173.

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NAZIS AND NAZI COLLABORATORS (PUNISHMENT) LAW, 5710-1950        p. 158

            (c) any territory which, during the whole or part of the period of the Nazi regime, was de facto under German rule, for the time during which it was de facto under German rule as aforesaid;

(d) any territory which was de facto under the rule of any other Axis state during the whole or part of the period of the war between it and the Allied Powers, for the time during which that territory was de facto under the rule of that Axis state as aforesaid;
        "enemy administration" means the administration which existed in an enemy country;

"persecuted person" means a person belonging to a national, racial, religious or political group which was persecuted by an enemy administration;

"the Criminal Code" means the Criminal Code Ordinance, 19361).
Implementa-
tion.		 17.  The Minister of Justice is charged with the implementation of this Law.
  DAVID BEN-GURION
Prime Minister		 PINCHAS ROSEN
Minister of Justice
YOSEF SPRINZAK
Chairman of the Knesset
Acting President of the State		    

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