Netflix docuseries 'The Devil Next Door’ explores the story of 'Ivan the Terrible,' one of the most violent concentration camp guards in Nazi history
Remember ‘Ivan the Terrible’? The Russian Tsar, infamous for his brutality and treachery on his people, remains notorious for being one of the most dreaded humans of history. But as we know, history does repeat itself, though in different scenarios at different times. Ivan the Terrible might have died centuries ago, but modern civilization saw his reincarnation in the form of John/Ivan Demjanjuk. The Ukrainian-American autoworker from Cleveland, Ohio, who otherwise would easily pass as your next-door grandpa, was identified as their ‘Ivan the Terrible’ by some of the local Holocaust survivors.
It all started around the time when Adolf Eichmann was kidnapped by the Mossad and brought to trial in Israel. In the 70s, a New York daily with Soviet connections started an investigation into Nazi war crimes and unearthed 70 war criminals. One of them led to the name – Ivan Demjanjuk, whose identity card was identified as the ‘Trawniki documents’. Upon further digging, the US government discovered that Ivan Demjanjuk was posted at the Sobibor (Poland) camp and sent across the photo and ID to Israel to confirm their theory. The results they received were astonishing. Some of the holocaust survivors in Israel (as well as in the United States) recognized Demjanjuk as ‘Ivan the Terrible’ and that he was the guard in charge of the Treblinka camp. The survivors alleged him of killing a million Jews and almost to the extent of voluntary murder.
Here’s a little back story worth mentioning when laying out the events of Treblinka.
The Trawinki Men
The guards of the German Nazi camps in German-occupied Poland were called the Trawniki Men. Between 1941 and 1942, more than 2,500 guards were brought in as “auxiliary” force by the SS and police. Most of them were Ukrainian soldiers or other Soviet prisoners of war, who were processed, inducted, and trained as camp guards. When the force started drying up, they started drafting young Ukrainian civilians from Galicia, Wolhynia (Volhynia), Podolia, and the Lublin Districts. Evidence shows Ivan Demjanjuk was one of the civilians who was conscripted by the Ukrainians and was posted at Sobibor and then at Treblinka.
Born in Ukraine, Ivan (later changed his name to John) was defended against four court proceedings related to war crimes that he committed when he served as a “collaborator” of the Nazi regime. In the post-war era, Ivan became John and settled down in the quiet suburbs of Seven Hills in Ohio, where he led the rest of his adult life as an autoworker for Ford plant until in the 1980s his criminal past came to the public eye.
The investigations into Demjanjuk started in 1975. One could say that it was an aftermath of Eichmann’s capture and incarceration. The proceedings went on till 1986 when Demjanjuk’s American citizenship was stripped off and he was extradited twice, once to Germany and once to Israel, to be tried for crimes against humanity. But lack of ample evidence and experts’ opinion that he was the wrongfully accused, exonerated him from all allegations. Much later in 2011, in the Germany trial, he was finally prosecuted. The entire trial became a spectacle for both European and American Jews and the media went into a frenzy as the dark and horrifying events came to light. Although it was 65 years later, the survivors of the Treblinka camp perhaps found justice.
War ends, its victims remained scarred for life. While we cannot change history, we can always go back and recount those events and bring them to light in our times. Netflix’s upcoming documentary on John Demjanjuk's case aims to do just that. With real-life footage of the trial, expert opinions, and media reactions to the brutal history of the Holocaust, the world will perhaps get to see if ‘Ivan the Terrible’ was a monster or a victim.
Watch out for the premiere of ‘The Devil Next Door’ on Netflix on November 4, 2019.