Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk died a free man yesterday aged 91.
The monster…who was last year convicted of helping to murder 28,060 Jews during the Second World War…passed away in an old people’s home.
He was appealing a five-year jail term and lived in the sleepy Bavarian town of Bad Feilnbach, Germany.
Ukranian born Demjanjuk had helped herd new arrivals down a walkway called the “Road to Heaven” and into fake shower blocks. The victims were then gassed.
Most died within two hours of arriving at the Sobibor camp in Poland…where 250,000 were killed.
Demjanjuk was found guilty of being an accessory to mass murder during the six months he served there in 1943. After the war he fled to Ohio, US, where he changed his name from Ivan to John and became a mechanic for Ford. But the dad of three’s past emerged when his SS ID card was found. He insisted it was a fake but was extradited to Germany in 2009 for what was dubbed The Last Nazi War Trial.
After his conviction, a court in Munich barred him from leaving Germany during the appeal.
Yesterday relatives of those who perished at the camp said Demjanjuk should have died in prison. Helen Hyde, 64, of Radlett, Herts, said: “I am disappointed it did not come to that for all the people who suffered.”
Demjanjuk’s son John, 46, insisted his father was a “victim” of the war. He added: “History will show Germany used him as a scapegoat.”
by Mike Hansom
