Tuesday, January 24, 2006
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A man has sued the family of a retired autoworker accused of being a Nazi concentration camp guard, saying he has been denied promised compensation for his role in John Demjanjuk's efforts to clear his name.
Jerome Brentar's lawsuit has been scheduled for trial in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on May 1, even as the 85-year-old Demjanjuk faces a government deportation order.
Demjanjuk's lawyers plan to appeal a ruling from an immigration judge last month that would send him to his native Ukraine.
Demjanjuk, who came to the United States in 1952 and worked for Ford Motor Co., lost his U.S. citizenship after a judge ruled in 2002 that documents from World War II prove he was a Nazi guard at various death or forced labor camps.
Demjanjuk, once suspected of being the notoriously brutal guard known as Ivan the Terrible, faced a death sentence for crimes against humanity before the Israeli Supreme Court in 1993 ordered him released and allowed his return to his home in the Cleveland suburb of Seven Hills.
The Israeli judicial panel made its ruling then based on evidence that someone else was Ivan the Terrible. The U.S. government no longer alleges Demjanjuk was Ivan the Terrible.
Brentar, an 83-year-old retired travel agent from Cleveland, claims he has spent $2 million of his own money interviewing former Nazi guards and concentration camp survivors in the 28-year effort to clear Demjanjuk.
"Had it not been for the efforts of Brentar, the historical consensus is that John Demjanjuk Sr. would have ended his life on the gallows," the lawsuit says.
The Demjanjuk family says Brentar was one of countless volunteers who helped without a promise to be repaid, according to court records.
Brentar "has his own agenda" to make money off the Demjanjuks, said Kenneth Boukis, the family's attorney.
Boukis said Brentar testified in a deposition that he worked as a volunteer "and I didn't charge them for it."
It's doubtful Brentar would receive money if he wins in court because the Demjanjuk family has huge debts from its fight against the government.
Brentar, who worked with the International Refugee Organization in Germany during World War II, said he first met with Demjanjuk and his wife at their home in 1980.
Vera Demjanjuk pleaded for help and the couple promised the family would repay him, Brentar said.
"The family refuses to see me," Brentar told The Plain Dealer for a story Monday. "They won't even talk to me. They don't know how to say thank you."