Richard Rashke - Useful Enemies

Williamson, Gordon. The SS: Hitler’s Instrument of Terror. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1995.

178 “He withstood much of the hostility”: Battisti’s obituary, CPD, Oct. 20, 1994.

179 John Martin’s obituary, CPD, Dec. 3, 2009. The article quotes Demjanjuk’s son-in-law, Ed Nishnic, as saying: “I love John Martin. Nobody would take this case in the beginning except for John Martin. John went well over and above what any lawyer would do.”

183 Schefler spoke through an interpreter and some of the translation was awkward and confusing. The original German transcript was not available for comparison purposes. Some minor editing was required.

194 Heinrich Schaefer affidavit, Oct. 17, 1983. English translation.

215 Michael Pap’s background is taken from his John Carroll University curriculum vitae and from his pretrial deposition taken by OSI on April 30, 1980. Civil Action No. C77–923.

215 A Michael Pap (born in Tirma, Czechoslovakia, on July 24, 1920) entered the United States at Boston on June 3, 1949, alien registration No. 71644796. This appears to be the same Michael S. Pap who testified at the Demjanjuk trial. Pap’s son Charles did not respond to several requests for information about his father’s date and place of birth, and how his father survived the war.

216 The Reich had passed a law requiring all ethnic Germans: “From: Document Center, US Army Berlin…Subject: Waffen SS in the Balkans…To: US Displaced Persons Commission…Attn: M. M. DeCapua,” Sept. 12, 1951, NA, RG 278, “Displaced Persons Commission Administration File,” Box 72.

216 “Absurdities and contradictions”: See Mark Weber’s introduction to Jerome Brentar’s article, “My Campaign for Justice for John Demjanjuk.” The Institute of Historical Research is considered a Holocaust revisionist organization.

216 An anti-Semitic Holocaust denier: Brentar was dismissed as cochairman of an ethnic coalition supporting George H. W. Bush’s 1988 presidential campaign, on charges of anti-Semitism. See also: Birnbaum, Brentar, and NYT, Sept. 9, 1999. Until his death in 2006 at age eighty-four, Brentar steadfastly denied those allegations.

216 The radio interview aired on the John McCulloch show at WJW in Cleveland. Quotes come from “Demjanjuk Case Evokes Anti-Semitism,” American Israelite, Jan. 9, 1986.

217 “Forced through”: Simpson, 207.

217 The details of O’Connor’s life before l949 are taken from his thirty-eight-page FBI background investigation file. The investigation was mandated because he was under consideration for a presidential appointment to the Displaced Persons Commission.

217 O’Connor’s FBI file details his deeply Catholic roots: He graduated from St. Joseph’s Collegiate High School in Buffalo; studied at the Jesuit-run Niagara University; received a BS and MA from the University of Notre Dame; served as superintendant of Catholic Charities in Buffalo and as a case consultant for the Buffalo St. Vincent DePaul Society; was a member of the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus; and served as Executive Assistant, War Relief Services, National Catholic Welfare Conference. As a result of his relief work in Europe, O’Connor was decorated by France, Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

217 “It is altogether desirable”: “To All State Commissions and Committees and Voluntary Agencies…From: Ugo Carusi, Chairman,” Displaced Persons Commission, December 21, 1950. NA, RG 278, “Administrative Files of the Displaced Persons Commission,” Box 72.

217 “The single most important activist”: This and the description of ABN are from Simpson, 269–70.

217 For background on Alfreds Berzins see Simpson, Blowback; and NA, RG 263, Box 12.

225 “Gave him the temporary rank of”: “Dr. Edward M. O’Connor, 77, Former NSC Staffer, Dies,” NYT, Nov. 27, 1985.

251 “We categorically reject guilt by association”: “Jews, Ukrainians Unite on Human Rights Violation on Ruling of Demjanjuk,” CPD, June 23, 1981.

Feigin, “Karl Linnas: Cold War Politics and OSI Litigation.” The Office of Special Investigations.

——. “Klaus Barbie: The Butcher of Lyon.” The Office of Special Investigations. Holtzman, Who Said It Would Be Easy?

Legge, Jerome S., Jr. “The Karl Linnas Deportation Case, the Office of Special Investigations and American Ethnic Politics.” Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Spring 2010.

Linnas, Karl. NA, RG 263, CIA Name Files, first release, Box 33; and second release, Box 81.

Ryan, Quiet Neighbors.

Soodla. NA, RG 263, CIA Name Files, first release, Box 49; and second release, Box 124.

Walter, Guy. Hunting Evil: The Nazi War Criminals Who Escaped and the Quest to Bring Them to Justice. New York: Broadway Books, 2009.

252 Murdered between thirty-five hundred: Legge, 31.

253 “Linnas frequently travelled to the execution site”: “From: Moscow… to Secretary of State,” No: 215, October 11, 8 PM, NA, RG 263, first release, Box 33.

253 “Murderers” and “German Fascist handymen”: “Memorandum For: Chief, SR… Via: Chief, SR… Subject: Karl Linnas,” Oct. 13, 1961, NA, RG 263, first release, Box 33. Secret.

253 The CIA files apparently show that Linnas had no CIA connections: “It is believed that LINNAS had no past contact with CIA and there seems to be no need for CIA action in this matter…. CIA files contain only a single reference to LINNAS and this document has been destroyed.” Ibid.

254 “Soodla worked for the CIA in Trieste”: Ibid.

254 For more on Soodla see: NA, RG 263; Joachim Joeston, “Baltic Legions,” WP, May 27, 1943; “Six in the West Accused of Crimes by Soviet,” NYT, May 23, 1961; and Legge, who conducted exhaustive research on the Karl Linnas case. The CIA deemed a “suitable candidate” for espionage work: “From: Chief of Station…To: Chief Foreign Division W,” Dispatch No. WSSA-2397, March 5, 1951, NA, RG 263, Soodla, second release, Box 124.

254 Legge presents and documents the following breakdown of the 7,798 Estonians killed during the Nazi occupation: native Estonian (69.4 percent), Russian (15.2), Jewish (11.9), Romany (3.1), and other (0.4), 27.

256 “Live out his life peacefully”: Holtzman, 95. See also NYT: Ralph Blumenthal, “Delays Charged in Nazi Inquiry,” July 1, 1974; Kenneth B. Noble, “U.S. Deports Man Condemned to Die by Soviet Union,” April 21, 1987; CT: “Reagan fights Nazi-case Deportation,” March 18, 1987; Thom Shanker, “Linnas Dies in Soviet Union,” July 3, 1987.

257 The Barbie account is based on Ryan, chap. 9, and Feigin, “Klaus Barbie: The Butcher of Lyon.”

261 “How rare it is”: NYT editorial, Aug. 18, 1983.

These chapters are based on the Demjanjuk deportation trial transcript, John Demjanjuk aka Iwan Demjanjuk aka Ivan Demjanjuk, United States Department of Justice Immigration Court, A8 237417, October 26, 1983.

Arndt, “The Wrong Man.”

Birnbaum, Susan. “Letter From Demjanjuk Backer Supports Charges Against Him.” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, December 10, 1992.

Brentar, “My Campaign for Justice for John Demjanjuk.”

Davidson, “The Bush Family—Third Reich Connection: Fact or Fiction?”

“Demjanjuk Case Evokes Anti-Semitism.” American Israelite, January 9, 1986.

Medoff, Rafael. “Bush Puts Politics Above Concern for Holocaust Legacy.” Jewish Bulletin of Northern California, June 6, 2003.