Nazi War Criminal. Born Ivan Mykolaiovych Demianiuk, he became a United States citizen in 1958. In 1981 he was tried in Israel for war crimes committed while he was a watchman at Sobibor, a "death camp" in Poland during World War II. He lost his United States citizenship and was sentenced to death, but his sentence was overturned and his citizenship reinstated due the court's inability to prove he was actually "Ivan the Terrible." According to the written statements of 37 former guards at Treblinka (some of whom had been executed by the Soviet Union, others died of old age, and could therefore not be cross-examined) that identified Ivan the Terrible as another man named Ivan Marchenko (possibly Marshenko, or Marczenko). One document described Ivan the Terrible as having brown hair, hazel eyes, a square face, and a large scar down to his neck; (Demjanjuk was dark blond with gray eyes, a round face, and no such scar.) Charged again in 2001, he was not deported from the United States to Germany for trial until 2008. In 2011 he was convicted in Germany of aiding in the deaths of over 28,000 Jews. He was sentenced to five years in prison in Germany but appealed this sentence. He died in a German nursing home before his appeal was heard. After his death, his family requested that he regain his U.S. citizenship and the courts denied the request. On appeal, the courts ruled citizenship cannot be given posthumously.
Nazi War Criminal. Born Ivan Mykolaiovych Demianiuk, he became a United States citizen in 1958. In 1981 he was tried in Israel for war crimes committed while he was a watchman at Sobibor, a "death camp" in Poland during World War II. He lost his United States citizenship and was sentenced to death, but his sentence was overturned and his citizenship reinstated due the court's inability to prove he was actually "Ivan the Terrible." According to the written statements of 37 former guards at Treblinka (some of whom had been executed by the Soviet Union, others died of old age, and could therefore not be cross-examined) that identified Ivan the Terrible as another man named Ivan Marchenko (possibly Marshenko, or Marczenko). One document described Ivan the Terrible as having brown hair, hazel eyes, a square face, and a large scar down to his neck; (Demjanjuk was dark blond with gray eyes, a round face, and no such scar.) Charged again in 2001, he was not deported from the United States to Germany for trial until 2008. In 2011 he was convicted in Germany of aiding in the deaths of over 28,000 Jews. He was sentenced to five years in prison in Germany but appealed this sentence. He died in a German nursing home before his appeal was heard. After his death, his family requested that he regain his U.S. citizenship and the courts denied the request. On appeal, the courts ruled citizenship cannot be given posthumously.
Bio by: Casey Washer
Family Members
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Records on Ancestry
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