Yecir In Review

Did Israel Convict
The Wrong Ivan?

The case of John Demjanjuk continues
to pose impossible questions.

Could this be the messiah? Supporters of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who turned 90 in
April, proclaimed that the age of the messiah is upon us.

Waiting For
Messiah

Followers of the Lubavitcher Rebbe say the
Redeemer may come from Brooklyn.

he Lubavitcher Rebbe,
Rabbi Menachem Schneer-
son, was in the headlines
often this past year — when
he suffered a stroke, when
he celebrated his 90th
birthday, and when he and
his followers emphasized the messianic
spirit of Jewish belief.
It was this heralding of the messian-
ic age — in speeches and full-page ads in
daily newspapers here and in Israel —
that caused the most controversy, par-
ticularly among Jews who felt distinct-
ly uncomfortable with talk of the
imminent coining of the messiah. Many
Lubavitcher Chasidim, who number in
the tens of thousands, believe that their
rebbe may be the messiah, though he
has never proclaimed himself as such.
In Israel, large billboards that said "Pre-
pare for the Coming of the Messiah"
were seen throughout the land this year.
(/) The rebbe's age, and illness, and this
new burst of messianic fervor quickened
the discussion of whether or not he is
the realization of what, for many Jews,
is more of an ideological concept than a
w
possible
historical reality.
I-
Utter blasphemy, according to some
C)
- Orthodox Jews, who said it was the
height of chutzpah to think of any liv-
ing person at this time as the potential
- messiah. Supporters of the rebbe
however, that messianic expectation
is a fundamental tenet of Judaism. And

L1J

LI-I

30

who else, they ask, is more worthy in
terms of worldwide Torah influence, to
be the messiah today?
The level of messianism was height-
ened by the number of cataclysmic world
events of late, including the collapse of
the Soviet Union, the large scale emi-
gration of Jews from the former USSR,
and the Persian Gulf war, all thought
to be precursors of a messianic age.
Large ads in the New York Times pro-
claiming that the age of the messiah is
at hand, reports of the rebbe's followers
in Israel building an exact replica of his
Brooklyn home (complete with police
bars on the windows) in preparation for
his arrival there, and anger among
many Israelis that a rabbi in Brooklyn
has so much impact on Knesset poli-
tics have all contributed to the fascina-
tion with Rabbi Schneerson.
While critics worry about the dan-
gers of false messianism and the spiri-
tual disillusionment that could affect
followers if the rebbe dies, his support-
ers insist that his death would not dis-
prove his messianic potential.
In the meantime, as the rebbe recov-
ers slowly from a stroke that left him
unable to speak, they worry quietly
about who would succeed their childless
rebbe, the seventh in the dynastic lin-
eage. And even critics acknowledge that
Lubavitcher Chasidim have sparked re-
newed interest in the age-old Jewish
concept of messiah.

id Israel convict and
sentence to death the
wrong "Ivan the Terri-
ble"?
That remains a.dis-
turbing possibility in the
wake of new evidence in
the case of John Demjanjuk, 72, who
was found guilty last year of commit-
ting Nazi war crimes and crimes against
humanity.
Israel's most celebrated Nazi case
since Adolf Eichmann was convicted
and executed almost 30 years ago, the
Demjanjuk trial received worldwide at-
tention. Over a period of 11 months, it
was conducted in a converted Jerusalem
auditorium, broadcast live on television
and attracted some 250,000 spectators
before three judges concluded "with-
out hesitation or doubt" that Demjan-
juk was guilty.
Key testimony came from several sur-
vivors of the Treblinka death camp who
identified Demjanjuk, a Ukrainian who
settled in Ohio 40 years ago, as the
guard who took sadistic pleasure in tor-
turing and murdering thousands of in-
nocent victims.
In the spring, armed with archival
documents freed from the former Sovi-
et Union, Demjanjuk's attorneys argued
that the real "Ivan the Terrible" was a
man named Ivan Marchenko, and that
Demjanjuk had never been at Treblin-
ka. The most telling piece of evidence
was an account given to the Soviets in
1951 by a man, later executed by the
Red Army, who said he had operated
the gas chambers at Treblinka with
Marchenko.
The new evidence seemed to prove
that Demjanjuk was not at Treblinka
but that he served as a guard at the So-
bibor death camp in Poland and a forced
labor camp in Bavaria.
As the Israeli judges ponder the new
evidence, they are faced with difficult
choices. If they find in Demjanjuk's fa-
vor, they are in effect saying that the
written testimony of a long-dead gas

After being sentenced to death for Nazi war
crimes, John Demjanjuk strengthened his case
that he was the victim of mistaken identity.

chamber operator is more credible than
the eyewitness testimony of several sur-
vivors. And if that is so, how can Israel,
or any other country, conduct Nazi war
crime trials based on the testimony of
survivors?
If, on the other hand, the conviction
stays, will Israel appear to have been
blinded by bias and the desire to avenge
the deaths of countless Jewish victims?
There are other questions as well. If
Demjanjuk is found not to be "Ivan the
Terrible" but 'just" a death camp guard,
what will his fate be? Will he be freed?
And if so, what country would have him?
The verdict may come any day, but
for many Israelis the Demjanjuk case
has gone from a national history lesson
to a national embarrassment. Still, un-
like those he served during the War,
John Demjanjuk will have his fate de-
termined by judges who value law and
humanity over revenge.

(1:.=