Public Supports Demjanjuk Staying In US
 Wednesday, April 15th, 2009  by Connie T.

John Demjanjuk hearing his death sentence in Jerusalem court 21 years ago.
The ruling was later overturned.

Too often, people surprise us with their capacity for cruelty. But let it not be said that sympathy - and kindness - are not a part of the American spirit. In Ohio, at least, those polled have consistently disagreed that John Demjanjuk, the accused Nazi death camp guard, should be deported from Cleveland, Ohio to face court proceedings in Germany. To the tune of about 67%. This astonished us.

Demjanjuk has a German arrest warrant accusing him of being an accessory to about 29,000 deaths at Sobibor camp in Poland during World War II.

After being removed from his home this week in a wheelchair by immigration officials, federal immigration released Demjanjuk from custody; a US Court of Appeals in Cincinnati granted him a stay, at least while his deportation case is being reviewed.

Demjanjuk is not a strapping young criminal. He is a feeble, wheelchair-bound, 89-year old man who rarely ventures from his suburban home due to, his attorney said, Demjanjuk's suffering from severe spine, hip and leg pain from bone marrow disorder, spinal deterioration, a kidney tumor and kidney stones, arthritis, and gout.

The thousands of deaths suffered in the atrocities at Nazi death camps in WWII are hopefully not too far removed by the years from our hearts and our regrets at history's misdeeds. Assuming we are properly irate at the severity of the cited crimes...Americans have a sense of justice. Sometimes we seek justice through a court of law, and sometimes justice is born.

John Demjanjuk denies participation in the crimes of which he is accused. If he ends up being deported, his family says that he will endure immeasurable pain, only to survive several more months in a German hospital and never live to stand trial.

Is this a fate worthy of an elderly US citizen (which Demjanjuk is), presumed innocent until proven guilty? Perhaps not. And were he indeed guilty of the crime(s), perhaps in the public's eye his own condition - his proximity to the afterlife, and any potential demons whose wrath no court can deliver - is justice enough.

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