Useful Enemies

“Mr. Interpreter, would you stand, please, and read the fourth line from the top?” Horrigan asked.

“‘I, the undersigned applicant for immigration visa and alien registration, being duly sworn, state the following facts regarding myself.’”

“That must be true then,” Demjanjuk said.

“Is that your signature?”

“Yes.”

Horrigan went on to establish the years when Demjanjuk applied for IRO refugee status (1950) and for a visa (1951), in order to refute the claim that he lied because he was afraid of being forcibly repatriated.

“Mr. Demjanjuk, isn’t it a fact that by 1947, you were no longer afraid of repatriation?” Horrigan asked.

“We were afraid even longer. We didn’t know who would be taken, and what would happen,” Demjanjuk said.

“Do you recall the Germans asking the Russian prisoners of war… to volunteer for work outside the camp?”

“There was no question of a German asking someone if you wanted to do a job,” Demjanjuk said. “He told you to do a job, and if you didn’t, he would hit you with a pole or a whip, and you had to do it.”

“Did you ever hear the Germans asking for volunteers?”

“I did not.”

Horrigan began to probe Demjanjuk’s testimony that he was in Oelberg from late 1944 to May 1945 as a soldier in Vlasov’s army.

“What were your duties? What did you do?” Horrigan asked.

“We had no duties because we had no uniforms. We were waiting for uniforms and we were being fed, brought back to health,” Demjanjuk said.

“Did you indicate in your deposition that at Oelberg you guarded a Ukrainian general or Russian general?”

Horrigan was referring to a pretrial deposition taken the previous year, in February 1980.

“I didn’t guard him,” Demjanjuk said. “I was assigned to guard him.”

“I call defense counsel’s attention to the deposition of Mr. Demjanjuk.”

Horrigan read from the transcripts.

Q. What were you doing in Oelberg?

A. I was like a soldier but a guard.

Q. What were you guarding?

A. A general.

Q. American general?

A. A Russian general.

Q. Who was a prisoner of war?

A. Yes.

Horrigan asked: “Do you remember those questions and answers?”

“I remember,” Demjanjuk said.

“Did you have a gun while you were at Oelberg?”

“No.”

“What were you guarding this general with, a pipe?”

“Your Honor,” Martin interrupted. “I’m going to object to the remark of the government’s lawyer. I think this witness ought to be treated with dignity.”

“Answer the question,” Battisti ordered.

“I have already replied that I did not guard the general,” Demjanjuk said. “I was only assigned to the unit which was to guard him, and there were seventy to one hundred people in this unit.”

“When did you tell the American authorities about your service with the Germans in this Russian military unit?” Horrigan asked.

“When my deposition was taken.”

“And why didn’t you tell them earlier than this?”

“Because no one asked me.”

“Mr. Demjanjuk, you indicated that you had a tattoo and you received this from the Germans, is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“And is that tattoo still there?”

“No.”

“What happened to it?”

“When I was in Graz, everyone had a tattoo, but in the Russian national army [at Oelberg], tattoos weren’t given and I took it off,” Demjanjuk said.

“You no longer had a tattoo there. You have a scar. Is that correct?

“Yes.”

“And you took it off because you were in the Russian unit. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“You wanted to be like the rest of the boys, is that right?” Horrigan said.

“Objection.”

“Overruled.”

“So you maimed yourself. Is that right?”

“So it appears,” Demjanjuk said.

Horrigan showed Demjanjuk the photo exhibits of the Trawniki card once again.

“Is that you?”

“Looks like me, but I am not one hundred percent certain,” Demjanjuk said. “I have never seen such a photo taken of me, and so I am not certain.”

“But it looks like you, doesn’t it?”

“Possibly.”

“Very similar to you, isn’t it?”

“Yes, possibly.”

“You indicated to your attorney that you have always had blue eyes, is that correct?”

Once again, Horrigan showed Demjanjuk the copy of his visa application form.

“Would you tell us the color of the eyes [given] in this visa application?”

“Gray.”

“When did your eyes change color?”

“Objection.”

“Overruled.”

“I don’t know when this changed,” Demjanjuk said.

“You indicated to your attorney that your hair was light blond?”

“My hair was blond, yes.”

“And this… visa application of Iwan Demjanjuk, do you see the color of that man’s hair?”

“Brown.”

“Was the color of your hair ever dark blond?”

“My hair was always its normal color. I never dyed it,” Demjanjuk said.

“Which was?”

“Light blond.”

“Yet in 1951, this application says your hair was brown. Is that correct?”

“I didn’t write that myself,” Demjanjuk said, indicating that the interpreter filled out the application form.

Once again, Horrigan called Demjanjuk’s attention to the Trawniki card.