The souls and families of  thousands of Jews murdered in the Holocaust can rest a little easier.  John Demjanjuk  has gone from an accused to a convicted Nazi War Criminal.  Pending a certain appeal, the end to a saga that has lasted over twenty-five years has come full circle.

A saga that spanned the globe from the Gates of the Sobibor Concentration Camp in Poland,  to Cleveland, Ohio to Israel and finally back where it all started in Germany has finally ended with Demjanjuk’s conviction as an accessory to the murder of 28,000 Jews at the Sobibor Concentration camp.

There are those who will claim that Demjanjuk was simply a dupe and scapegoat to hold any possible person accountable for the Naz’s horrendous crimes against humanity.  There will those will claim that he is a wrongly accused old man, the victim of a government conspiracy.   There will those who will claim that regardless of his crimes, he is simply too old and close to death regardless, so we should leave him be.  If it makes that contingent feel any better, An appeals court may very well reverse his conviction. Demjanjuk will probably not do any time because of his age. It really does not matter.  The wheels of justice have finally turned.  The statement that has been made time and time again by those pursuing the perpetrators of genocide has been reaffirmed. You can not hide behind the passage of time.  The world has listened in to a the recounting of an event in time that within 5-10 years  there will be no one left to tell the story.  It will be relegated to history books that for the most part give relatively short shrift to this pivotal moment in human history.  John Demjanjuk’s role and conviction will be an official part of that history. The course of human history changed by the murdering of the future.

In the end,  John Demjanjuk will still have lived a the full life of family, friends and a full stomach that he helped deny to thousands of Jews. This is 2011, not 1945.  Lucky for him. 

German prosecutors have formally charged John Demjanjuk on with 27,900 counts of being an accessory to murder at a Nazi death camp during World War II.

German doctors had previously determined that Demjanjuk is fit to stand trial on charges that he was an accessory to murder at Sobibor, a Nazi death camp.  Doctors state that the 89-year-old retired auto worker, recently deported from the United States, can stand trial so long as his time in court does not exceed two 90-minute sessions daily.

The charges still must be accepted by the court but this is generally considered a formality. Prosecutors and Demjanjuk’s defense attorney, said the trial could begin by autumn.

A key witness against Demjanjuk recently  stepped forward dealing a devastating blow to his claims of mistaken identity. Alexander Nagorny, a former concentration camp guard will testify that he not only worked with Demjanjuk in a camp but lived with him for a period of time.

Nagorny will be a key witness against the 89-year-old Demjanjuk.  He will testify that he worked with Demjanjuk at a concentration camp in Flossenburg, Germany, and lived with him after the war in Landshut, a Bavarian city near Munich.  While he does not put Demjanjuk at Sobibor, if believed it is a severe blow to Demjanjuk’s case as he has steadfastly claimed he is the victim of mistaken identity and was never a concentration camp guard.  The fact that Nagorny lived with Demjanjuk makes his testimony uniquely powerful and unlike others in similar trials who claimed that they served with or only saw a particular guard in a camp. This type of testimony  could often be discredited based on the combination of brief interactions, mistaken identity and passage of time.  His testimony is also crucial because if believed it ties Demjanjuk to a specific concentration camp guard I.D number. That same number places Demjanjuk at Sobibor, the camp in which he is accused of committing war crimes.

Like Demjanjuk, Nagorny is old and very ill.  If his health renders him unavailable to testify at trial, his testimony at a preliminary hearing will be admissible.

Get ready for what should be the most publicized Nazi War Crimes trial since Adolf Eichmann and what should be the last chance to relive history before it is relegated to the history books.

It looks like accused war criminal John Demjanjuk will be forced to face his alleged Nazi concentration camp past in what in all likelihood will be the last World War II Nazi war crimes trial of our lifetime.

German doctors have determined that Demjanjuk is fit to stand trial on charges that he was an accessory to murder at Sobibor, a Nazi death camp.  Doctors state that the 89-year-old retired auto worker, recently deported from the United States, can stand trial so long as his time in court does not exceed two 90-minute sessions daily.

Prosecutors and Demjanjuk’s defense attorney, said the trial could begin by autumn.

A key witness against Demjanjuk recently  stepped forward dealing a devastating blow to his claims of mistaken identity. Alexander Nagorny, a former concentration camp guard will testify that he not only worked with Demjanjuk in a camp but lived with him for a period of time.

Nagorny will be a key witness against the 89-year-old Demjanjuk.  He will testify that he worked with Demjanjuk at a concentration camp in Flossenburg, Germany, and lived with him after the war in Landshut, a Bavarian city near Munich.  While he does not put Demjanjuk at Sobibor, if believed it is a severe blow to Demjanjuk’s case as he has steadfastly claimed he is the victim of mistaken identity and was never a concentration camp guard.  The fact that Nagorny lived with Demjanjuk makes his testimony uniquely powerful and unlike others in similar trials who claimed that they served with or only saw a particular guard in a camp. This type of testimony  could often be discredited based on the combination of brief interactions, mistaken identity and passage of time.  His testimony is also crucial because if believed it ties Demjanjuk to a specific concentration camp guard I.D number. That same number places Demjanjuk at Sobibor, the camp in which he is accused of committing war crimes.

Like Demjanjuk, Nagorny is old and very ill.  If his health renders him unavailable to testify at trial, his testimony at a preliminary hearing will be admissible.

In a case of life imitating art, the new witness also rings eerily similar to the movie Music Box which is loosely based on the Demjanjuk saga.  In that movie,  the character, “Mike Laszlo” played by Armand Muller Stahl is accused of being the  war criminal “Mishka” who murdered Jews  as part of the Hungarian “Arrow Cross” death squads.  Like Demjanjuk ,he claimed mistaken identity.

Now we have another piece coming into play.  In Music Box, a witness, “Pal Horvath” came forward claiming  he had served with Mishka and identified that person as Mike Laslow.   He, like Nagorny was old and in failing health.  It turned out however that he had previously given affidavits identifying two other individuals as Mishka. His testimony was discredited and ruled inadmissible. Michael Laslow went free.(it was a deportation hearing, not a criminal hearing).  In the end it turned out that Laslow was in fact the war criminal Mishka.

Is Alexander Nagorny a real life “Pal Horvath“?   Is John Demjanjuk a real life Mishka?  It looks like we are going to find out.

Whatever tune comes out of this real life  “Music Box”, it is a song that will never be played live again.   It needs to be heard and recorded for history so no one ever forgets.

It looks like accused war criminal John Demjanjuk will be forced to face his alleged Nazi Concentration Camp past in the name of Alexander Nagorny, a former concentration camp guard who will testify that he not only worked with Demjanjuk in a camp but lived with him for a period of time.

Should Demjanjuk be found healthy enough to stand trial, Nagorny will be a key witness against the 89-year-old Demjanjuk.  He will testify that he worked with Demjanjuk at a concentration camp in Flossenburg, Germany, and lived with him after the war in Landshut, a Bavarian city near Munich.  While he does not put Demjanjuk at Sobibor, if believed it is a severe blow to Demjanjuk’s case as he has steadfastly claimed he is the victim of mistaken identity and was never a concentration camp guard.  The fact that Nagorny lived with Demjanjuk makes his testimony uniquely powerful and unlike others in similar trials who claimed that they served with or only saw a particular guard in a camp. This type of testimony  could often be discredited based on the combination of brief interactions, mistaken identity and passage of time.  His testimony is also crucial because if believed it ties Demjanjuk to a specific concentration camp guard I.D number. That same number places Demjanjuk at Sobibor, the camp in which he is accused of committing war crimes.

Like Demjanjuk, Nagorny is old and very ill.  If his health renders him unavailable to testify at trial, his testimony at a preliminary hearing will be admissible.

In a case of life imitating art, the new witness also rings eerily similar to the movie Music Box which is loosely based on the Demjanjuk saga.  In that movie,  the character, “Mike Laszlo” played by Armand Muller Stahl is accused of being the  war criminal “Mishka” who murdered Jews  as part of the Hungarian “Arrow Cross” death squads.  Like Demjanjuk ,he claimed mistaken identity.

Now we have another piece coming into play.  In Music Box, a witness, “Pal Horvath” came forward claiming  he had served with Mishka and identified that person as Mike Laslow.   He, like Nagorny was old and in failing health.  It turned out however that he had previously given affidavits identifying two other individuals as Mishka. His testimony was discredited and ruled inadmissible. Michael Laslow went free.(it was a deportation hearing, not a criminal hearing).  In the end it turned out that Laslow was in fact the war criminal Mishka.

Is Alexander Nagorny a real life “Pal Horvath“?   Is John Demjanjuk a real life Mishka?  I hope his health improves enough for us to find out.

Whatever tune comes out of this real life  “Music Box”, it is a song that needs to be heard.