Ivan "John" Demjanjuk, an 89-year-old retired auto mechanic based in Ohio, is wanted by Munich authorities who claim that he served as a guard at the Nazi's Treblinka extermination camp in 1943. Demjanjuk, who has been dubbed "Ivan the Terrible," is being charged for participating in the murder of 29,000 Jews while serving the Nazi regime.Salon.com: Ohio man branded Nazi guard gets deportation stay (April 3, 2009)
After deportation from the United States, Demjanjuk arrived in Munich on May 12, 2009, and was taken to a hospital. He will face a war crimes tribunal.CNN: Nazi suspect Demjanjuk arrives in Germany (May 12, 2009)
Deportation
On April 3, 2009, Demjanjuk was granted a reprieve from his scheduled deportation to Germany, where he faces 29,000 counts of acting as an accessory to murder.FOX News: Ex-Nazi Charged 29,000 Times Asks U.S. to Block His Deportation (April 1, 2009) Immigration judge Wayne R. Iskra reportedly granted Demjunjuk's appeal on grounds that he was ill and not physically fit to travel. On April 6, 2009, Iskra reversed his earlier decision to stay Demjanjuk's deportation the grounds that he was not well enough to travel. He referred the matter to the Board of Immigration Appeals.Associated Press: Demjanjuk's stay of deportation to Germany... (April 6, 2009)
On May 7, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Demjanjuk's request to intervene in his planned deportation. Demjanjuk, claimed that the plane trip to Germany would amount to torture, due to his health.BBC News: Nazi suspect ordered to surrender (May 8, 2009) Demjanjuk was put on an ambulance-equipped plane at the Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport on May 11, for deportation to Munich.Cleveland Jewish News: Demjanjuk's deportation to Germany... (May 11, 2009)BBC: ...Demjanjuk deported (May 11, 2009)
Arrest and Appeal
On April 14, 2009, INS agents entered Demjanjuk's home in Cleveland and physically lifted him and his wheelchair, taking him away in a wheelchair-accessible van.The INS had planned to put him on an airplane to Germany to serve trial for crimes during the Nazi operation of the death camps of Treblinka and Sobibor in Poland, though a U.S. appeals court allowed his deportation to be halted after his son, John Demjanjuk Jr., argued to an appeals judge that his father would likely not survive the journey. Demjanjuk was released from custody later that same day.BBC News: US 'set to detain' Nazi suspect (April 14, 2009)