Wiesenthal Center Statement On Demjanuk Deportation Order

December 28, 2005

WIESENTHAL CENTER STATEMENT ON DEMJANUK DEPORTATION ORDER

The Simon Wiesenthal Center today applauded today’s decision by Chief U.S. Immigration Judge Michael Creppy to order the deportation of John Demjanuk, a retired autoworker who served as a guard at Sobibor and other Nazi concentration camps in Ukraine during WWII.

“Today’s decision brings the three decade search for justice for Demjanuk’s victims a step closer,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Los Angeles-based Center.
“He has had his rights fully protected for nearly three decades as he fought against deportation and now finally the rights of his victims to at least a symbolic measure of justice may be finally fulfilled,” Cooper continued.

“Yes he may be 85 years old, but civilized people should reserve their sympathy for the hundreds of thousands of innocent men, women and children who perished in horrible camps like Sobibor and Trawniki for the crime of being born Jewish,” Rabbi Cooper concluded.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, and the OAS.

For more information, please contact the Center's Public Relations Department, 310-553-9036, or visit www.wiesenthal.com.