The Trial of Ivan the Terrible: State of Israel Vs. John Demjanjuk

by Tom Teicholz

Book Overview

The notorious Nazi death-camp guard, brought to justice - photo illustrated. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312014503
• ISBN13: 9780312014506
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Good treatment

The book did a good job of reviewing the case and evidence. The person who panned the book because JD supposedly was later exonerated is making a false assumptioin. Appeals aside, John was never proven innocent. The reason he got off was because there was evidence that another Ivan was called Ivan the Terrible. But that does not make JD innocent. One could as easily claim the OTHER Ivan was innocent for the same reason. The most plausible explanation for all the evidence is that BOTH were called Ivan the Terrible. There is strong evidence that both served at death camps (not the same camp at the same time). And anyone who was a brutal guard and named Ivan would logically be knick-named Ivan the Terrible. This does nothing to undermine the evidence against JD, and the prosecution should have done a better job of explaining this. What also bothers me is that he seemed smug and aloof during the trial and afterward, as if he had no sympathy for those murdered. That to me is not typical of an innocent and decent man, which some of his family members claim he is. He recent dramatics and acting like he was in extreme pain while being carried out of his house, when other video shows he can walk fine, does not improve my opinion of his credibility either. Those who say leave him alone even if he is guilty should, I believe, reserve their sympathies for the many murdured during the holocaust. If he is guilty, what he has or will suffer in his remaining years is nothing compared to what he made others suffer.

Riveting

This book does an incredible job of telling the story of how one Ivan Demyanyuk, later known as John Demjanjuk, was brought to trial in Israel for being the notorious butcher and gas chamber operator Ivan the Terrible of Treblinka. Mr. Teicholz covers not only the trial (in superb depth), with the arguments and cross-examinations of people on the side of both the prosecution and the defence, but also the events leading up to Demjanjuk's capture, what he did after Treblinka, a bit about the camp itself and the riot/uprising that took place there in August of 1943, and what became of the small band of survivors after the War. All of the compelling evidence presented here builds up to the more and more undeniable conclusion, reached by the panel of three judges, that Demjanjuk was indeed Ivan the Terrible of Treblinka, for which he was sentenced to death by hanging. Unfortunately, this book ends by saying Demjanjuk's appeal is pending, and we know now that somehow this monster won his appeal and evaded the justice he had so sorely deserved, although at least his United States citizenship finally managed to be revoked. It would be nice if an updated edition could come out with information on the appeal, or, even better, a sequel of sorts covering the appeal and the appalling miscarriage of justice that was the end result.