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tified by Treblinka survivors
who recognized him from his
photograph which was attached
to his U.S. immigration forms.
The U.S. government started
legal proceedings against him in
1977 when denaturalization
charges were filed, alleging
"cruel, inhumane and bestial
treatment of Jewish prisoners."
In 1981, he was stripped of his
U.S. citizenship on the grounds
that he had concealed his SS
role at Treblinka when applying
for U.S. naturalization in 1958.
Israel's formal application for
his extradition was made in No-
vember 1983.
For the past nine years, De-
mjanjuk was fought unsuc-
cessfully, first to preserve his
citizenship, then to prevent his
deportation, and finally to avoid
extradition to Israel.
Demjanjuk is believed to be a
Ukrainian who served for a
short time with the Red Army,
where he was trained as a diesel
mechanic. After being captured
by the Germans, he allegedly
deserted from the Russians and
joined the Nazi SS, who gave
him special training as a death
camp guard at the Trawniki
camp in Poland.
He was then attached to Treb-
linka, where his expertise in di-
esel engines reportedly proved
invaluable in maintaining the
gas chambers, which destroyed
up to 15,000 people a day.
Unlike the Auschwitz exter-
mination chambers, which used
the relatively efficient Zyklon-B
gas, Treblinka relied on carbon
monoxide, generated by a diesel
engine and pumped into the gas
chambers, to kill its victims.
But Demjanjuk — described
by his former neighbors in
Cleveland as "one of the nicest
guys you'd ever want to meet"
— has maintained his innocence
throughout the denaturalization
procedures in the U.S. He in-
sisted that he was captured by
the Germans while serving in
the Red Army and denied that
he ever helped the Nazis or had
any involvement with Treb-
linka.
He was, he said, the victim of
mistaken identity and a conspi-
racy by Jewish organizations in
the U.S. and by Soviet intelli-
gence.
However, U.S. prosecutors and
Israeli legal experts —.with evi-
dence collected in the Soviet
Union — believe they have as-
sembled a body of evidence
which proves beyond any doubt
that Demjanjuk was indeed the
operator of the death camp
machinery.
The U.S. Supreme Court deci-
sion, the first extradition to Is-
rael of an alleged Nazi war
criminal, was a personal victory
for a British-born lawyer, De-
nnis Gouldman, who settled in
Israel 23 years ago and who now
heads the international depart-
ment of the Israel State Attor-
ney's Office. •
"Once Demjanjuk has been
tried," Gouldman told me, "Is-
rael will take individual deci-
sions about seeking the extradi-
tion of other Nazi criminals
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