1985: A LOOK BACK: OSI activity in U.S. (12/29/85)

1985: A LOOK BACK

OSI activity in U.S.

Throughout 1985, several Ukrainian organizations in the United States took steps to combat the defamation of Ukrainians. Committees were formed, appeals for funds were sent to members of the Ukrainian community, and the U.S. government was pressured to overhaul its procedures on seeking out and obtaining Soviet evidence for use in denaturalization proceedings against Nazi collaborators.

Indeed, there was a lot of activity; so much so that the World Jewish Congress charged that Ukrainian and other emigre groups are attempting to block the U.S. government's investigation of alleged Nazi collaborators. Spokesmen for Ukrainian and Lithuanian groups strongly denied these charges, pointing out that their communities' opposition to the Justice Department's Office of Special Investigations centers on the use of Soviet-supplied evidence.

To this end, the Ukrainian American Bar Association, Americans Against Defamation of Ukrainians and a host of other groups requested oversight hearings on the manner in which the Justice Department gathers Soviet evidence for use in denaturalization proceedings against suspects.

"No one can deny the legal and moral imperative of searching out individuals whose tainted war-time histories were concealed from the authorities when they came to this country," the Ukrainian American Bar Association wrote in a letter to Rep. Peter Rodino (D-NJ). "However, it is precisely because the stakes are so high that the utmost care must be given to the manner in which these individuals are charged and prosecuted."

In 1985, two committees and a large fund was established to combat the defamation of Ukrainians. The Supreme Assembly of the Ukrainian National Association announced in June that it was forming the Ukrainian Heritage Defense Committee. Fueled by a $100,000 budget and with a soon-to-be established lobbying office in Washington, the UHDC would promote the Ukrainian story, counter inaccuracies about Ukrainians, and protect the civil rights of Ukrainians.

Another anti-defamation committee was created in Philadelphia at a conference sponsored by the Americans Against the Defamation of Ukrainians. Among the plans of the newly formed Council of Ukrainian Central Organizations' Representatives: communicating with the media; ensuring that all legal proceedings conform to due process of law; and gathering of documents, eyewitnesses and testimony.

Finally, the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council announced plans to establish a $1 million fund to be used to assist those Ukrainians wrongly accused of collaborating with the Germans during World War II.

Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine, meanwhile, sponsored what were billed as anti-defamation rallies throughout the United States and raised funds for the legal defense of John Demjanjuk.

As the year drew to a close, it became more likely that Mr. Demjanjuk would be extradited to Israel to stand trial there for allegedly operating the gas chambers at the Nazi's Treblinka extermination camp. Mr. Demjanjuk, a 65-year-old retired auto worker from Cleveland, spends his days in a Springfield, Mo., prison while his lawyers try to convince the courts not to extradite him to Israel or deport him to the USSR.

On December 17, without comment, the Supreme Court rejected appeals by Mr. Demjanjuk to avoid deportation. Mr. Demjanjuk argued that his constitutional rights had been violated by lower courts which revoked his citizenship on the basis of false testimony and altered documents.