Demjanjuk Acts Briefly as His Own Lawyer to Challenge Identity Card

JERUSALEM — John Demjanjuk interrupted his war crimes trial Thursday to question an expert witness on minute details of a Nazi document, declaring he had the right to ask questions because a guilty verdict could cost him his life.

It was the first time since the trial began Feb. 16 that the retired Ohio auto worker personally challenged a witness’s testimony.

Demjanjuk, 67, is accused of being a sadistic Ukrainian guard known as “Ivan the Terrible” at the Treblinka death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, where an estimated 850,000 Jews were killed in 1942-43.

He interrupted his American defense lawyer, Mark O’Connor, to challenge the testimony of West German historian Wolfgang Scheffler. Earlier this week, Scheffler authenticated a Nazi SS identity card bearing Demjanjuk’s name.

“I know what the future can hold for me,” said Demjanjuk, a native of the Soviet Ukraine. He could be executed if convicted.

“These questions that should be asked are very important for me after I have been in jail for such a long time,” he said, standing and speaking Ukrainian in a firm voice.

He said he wanted to ask “simpler” questions than those put by O’Connor.

Demjanjuk claims he is a victim of mistaken identity and never saw Treblinka. The defense contends that the guard, Ivan, was killed during an uprising at death camp in August, 1943.

In his questions to Scheffler, the defendant concentrated on the style of uniform worn by trainees at the Trawniki camp, where prisoners of war were taught to be camp guards.

He said he believed Scheffler was wrong on details that would indicate the key prosecution document was forged.

The document is a Trawniki identification card bearing Demjanjuk’s name and a photograph. Demjanjuk and his lawyers claim it was forged by the Soviet Union, which provided it.