Ivan the Terrible

This week I watched a Netflix documentary, “The Devil Next Door.” It presented the story of a Cleveland auto worker accused of being the infamous Treblinka guard known as Ivan the Terrible. John Demjanjuk, ostensibly a Ukrainian refugee/immigrant after World War 2, had been a quiet, unassuming employee at the Ford plant in Cleveland—a model husband, father, and grandfather.

In 1986, Demjanjuk was extradited to Israel and stood trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to hang, but later (dubious?) evidence from the crumbling Soviet Union saved Demjanjuk. He was later stripped of his American citizenship and extradited to Germany, of all places. He died in prison before he could technically, legally, be convicted. Demjanjuk was 91.

As a journalist, I watched the documentary with an open mind. It resembled a heavyweight fight, as both sides traded punches and at any given time, one could be persuaded of his guilt, or consider there was reasonable doubt. In the end (watch it for yourself), I concluded he was Ivan. A very interesting notation on his immigration papers seemed to show that Demjanjuk identified himself as “Ivan Marchenko.” I also felt that relying on a KGB officer was almost laughable, as the KGB files identified another man as Ivan, however as I said, that testimony saved Demjanjuk’s life.

The passage of time, disagreement over a worker’s camp card, and frankly motivations of both sides made this story a bit murkier than you’d like.

Both sides made mistakes at trial. The prosecutor, Michael Shaked, got caught offguard when one compelling witness later appeared to suffer some dementia, thus throwing his identification of Demjanjuk into question. Conversely, the odd defense attorney, Yoram Sheftel, was off-putting for his enjoyment of the whole scene. He even admitted that he loved the spotlight, a very bad look for such a solemn proceeding. Sheftel also made points by mocking the prosecution’s reliance on Soviet records, yet later embraced the same type of evidence from…the KGB officer!

Overall a very weird story. It was also supremely tragic and horrific. Ivan the Terrible was an unusually sadistic madman, which is saying something in that Nazi crowd. In the end, it was proven that Demjanjuk was a guard at nearby Sobibor, and at the time of his death he had been charged as an accessory in 27,000 murders.

This was the most disturbing aspect of Demjanjuk’s story; he denied any knowledge of murders and basically claimed to be a completely innocent bystander of war, himself an innocent victim. It wasn’t credible. Of course, in order to play all this out, he had to claim complete innocence. It wouldn’t do to admit that, yes, he had been a guard, but blah, blah, blah.

He died never having admitted any complicity whatsoever. That Israel’s Supreme Court let him go after the KGB evidence came forward made the emotional pain in Israel all the more gut-wrenching. Sheftel was considered a traitor by his own people and I’m surprised he’s still around.

Demjanjuk was the biggest villain to be tried in Israel since the inhuman Adolph Eichmann in 1961. The court testimony was chilling.

I mention all this because my real takeaway from it all was much broader than just a retired autoworker from Cleveland, Ohio. I paid close attention to both his neighbors and family’s views of it all, as well as the German people.

It was a reminder that anti-Semitism is alive and well, unfortunately. Now, it is obvious that a man’s family will fight for him. The Demjanjuk family never wavered, particularly the son-in-law. Neighbors closed ranks around them. And the broader “Ukrainian-American” community in Cleveland behaved very much like the shadowy Odessa group that shielded Nazi war criminals in the years after the war. They either were silent, or made it known that they were afraid further inquiries about war criminals might implicate more in the community. All in all, this particular group was, shall we say, unsympathetic to the victims of the Holocaust.

At the end of the day, we are confronted with the same problem that has always existed: a lot of people hate Jews. In light of the insane comments from Kanye West this week—in which he lauded Hitler during an interview with the discredited Alex Jones—I am dismayed by the Jew-hatred that clearly exists even in America (long a haven for Jews).

Whoever he was, John Demjanjuk went to meet his Maker. As we all will.

When I meet mine, I will not have to tell Him why I hated the Jews.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com

Arab…Tourists?

Just one of the features of the still-shocking Abraham Accords—the business cooperation deal between Israel and many Middle East neighbors—is that people at odds for generations are now visiting each other. This new, open spirit of cooperation on a variety of fronts was driven by Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump.

Imagine being an Israeli and boarding an airplane bound for a Gulf State, and being the first from your country to do it! That began to happen in 2020, as Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain entered into a close coordination the areas of business and tourism. Both those countries, for the first time, recognized Israel’s sovereignty. After 70 years of vicious relations, the whole thing seemed like a dream. Incredibly, by the end of that year, Morocco joined the accords and one month later, so did Sudan! There were Western enticements, such as the U.S. dropping Sudan from a list of terrorist states.

The Accords have the potential to turn the Middle East into a financial paradise, and it’s hard to imagine other countries standing on the sidelines forever. It would be glorious, for example, if Lebanon could join the party at some point. It will require further marginalizing the haters, such as the PLO and Hamas. One wonders if Palestinian society has been too indoctrinated by hate, but we can hope that is not the case.

While Israelis have been visiting other countries, there have been overtures that encourage Arabs to visit Israel. Remember, Egypt’s Anwar Sadat visited Jerusalem in 1977, a political earthquake that had long-term implications. Things may move slowly in the Middle East, but things eventually happen that are good.

Recenty, an Israeli contingent attended the Jerusalem Post Global Investment Forum in Marrakech, Morocco. Eilat’s Deputy Mayor Matan Be’eri (his family is from Morocco) spoke of Israel’s marvelous sites. According to the Jerusalem Post:

“Be’eri recounted the city’s advantages, including its shared borders with Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the coral reef, the Red Mountains, cycling routes, the warm and sunny climate and the many music festivals held in the city.

“He also emphasized the fact that Eilat is considered to be the most liberal tourist city in the Middle East. Be’eri outlined goals for the city in aviation, tourism, medicine and innovation and invited conference participants to create collaborations between investors and countries to realize the vision and make history together.”

Be’eri took part in a tourism panel with Jalil Benabbes-Taarji, the former president of the Moroccan National Association of Investors in Tourism. As Be’eri emphasized Israel’s common borders with a host of Arab countries, Benabbes-Taarji did likewise for Morocco, pointing out its proximity to Europe (a popular tourist destination for many Israelis, despite the experiences of World War 2).

Eilat of course is one of the jewels of the region, at Israel’s southernmost tip. The Red Sea, diving sites, luxury hotels and the like attract many thousands each year.

Another key element in Israel’s business/tourism arsenal is the development of medical tourism. Even now, Arabs in the region can travel to Israel and receive state-of-the-art treatment for a variety of ailments. I’ve toured Tel-Aviv’s Sheba Medical Center and discrimination based on nationality does not exist there. This is resonating with longtime enemies. There is one more enticement for new audiences:

“Be’eri promoted the new international airport near Timna and stated that it can be a gateway to the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe, both for mass transportation and for transporting goods from around the world through Eilat.”

Now, one could be guilty of naivete, in the same way perhaps Shimon Peres was (I believe his vision of a new Middle East was once described as a “Maginot Line of five-star hotels,” hardly an enticement for career terrorists to give up their ways). Still, as my late friend and mentor David Lewis said often, “A cold peace is better than no peace at all.” That’s why David enthusiastically supported the peace agreements between Egypt and Jordan.

All this is a reminder to us that there are good things going on in the troubled region between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.

I do sincerely believe we should hope and pray for more opportunities like this, so that more and more people see the benefits of behaving themselves and realizing the enormous possibilities.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com