www.ukrweekly.com ІЇ5Ье(I by tht Ukrainian National Association Inc.. a fraternal non-profit association| Шrainian WeeI:I V Vol. LV No.14 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 5. 1987 25 cent3 Witness has doubts on Trawniki ID Soviet emigre: 15,000 died Special to Svoboda and The Weekly district attorney's office, also stated that she never found evidence that identity in wal(e of Cliornobyl accident JERUSALEM - A German prose­ cards were issued at the training camp WASH1NGTON - Some 15,000 duals with acute radiation sickness were cutor who spent 21 years preparing for guards and said she was skeptical people in two Kiev hospitals reportedly recorded as suffering from 'vascular cases against alleged Nazi war criminals about the so-called Trawniki ID card died from radiation poisoning over five atonia' (heart disease)." testified that she had never seen the ID that is a key piece of evidence in the months following last year's Chornobyl ''When they died they were dis­ card purportedly issued to John Dem- prosecution's case against the former nuclear rea tor disaster on April 26, charged from the hospital as those who juk at the Trawniki training camp or Cleveland auto worker. according to 1hor Gerashchenko, hus­ 'have undergone trea.tment' and 'do not any similar identity documents. She She noted also tha1t in her 21 years of band of the recently freed dissident poet require further treatment.' There will be also said she had never come across the experience as a prosecutor of Nazis 1rina Ratushinskaya. Mr. Gerash­ many more of those cynically recorded defendant's name. she had never received any forged chenko was a resident of the Ukrainian deaths," Mr. Gerashchenko asserted. Helge Grabitz, 52, of the Hamburg documents from the Soviet Union or capital until last November. Mr. Gerashchenko said the sick were any East bloc state. Testifying before the U.S. Helsinki admitted to the October (Zhovtnevy) In other developments during the Commission in Washington on March Hospital and the 0blast Hospital in Newfound documents week of March 30, the 1sraeli Supreme 31, Mr. Gerashchenko, an engineer and Kiev. Court on April 2 rejected the appeal of human-rights activist, claimed that the "To pacify wor1d public opinion, the reveal true identity the Demjanjuk defense team, which Soviet authorities deliberately covered Soviet government reported that about alleged that the three-judge panel up the deaths of 15,000 individuals from 30 individuals died as a result of the hearing the case was hostile to the radiation disease over five months after accident, and about З00 individuals of Treblinka's "Ivan" defense and lacked objectivity. the No. 4 reactor at the Chornobyl were exposed to radiation," said Mr. by Marianna Liss Mrs. Grabitz, who had appeared as a nuclear power station, some 60 miles Gerashchenko. witness for the prosecution the previous north of Kiev, exploded and spewed a "Their logic is striking in its cyni­ DETROIT - The head of the week, continued her testimony on cloud of radiation over much of Eu­ Association of Ukrainian Archivists, cism," he stated. "The explosion, in Monday, March 30. She continued to rope. which more than I50tons of radioactive William Turchyn, is "more than 100 speak about the trial of Karl Streibel, percent" certain that he has found the "As far as 1 know from my friends substances were thrown into the atmos­ the commandant of the Trawniki train­ who work in the two largest Kiev phere, that is 10,000 times more than true identity of "1van the Terrible," ing camp for guards. the sadistic guard of the Trebiinka hospitals," Mr. Gerashchenko said, during the Hiroshima bombing, oc­ At one point she stated that though "15,000 individuals died in five months curred in a densely populated area. death camp. Mr. Turchyn believes Streibel had testified that some in those hospitals alone. Those indivi­ (Continued on page 11) the guard was not John Demjanjuk 2,500 Ukrainians had passed through — nor was he a Ukrainian — but was Trawniki, her own estimate was higher, of German or Germanic origin. His between 3,500 and 4,000.1n response to PsYchiatric association urges USSR:. information is based on war crimi­ the judge's question about whether she nals lists of the Polish government has any proof for this assertion, Mrs. and the United Nations. Grabitz replied that she did not, that stop political use of psychiatry At first, Mr. Turchyn and his this was only her personal opinion. V1ENNA — The American Psychia­ had nobody to pull the alarm bell." research team went on the assump­ The afternoon session on Monday tric Association (АРА) called on the There are anywhere between 13 and tion that the guard was Ukrainian. was cancelled in order to give the Soviet Union March 26 to stop incar­ 14 special psychiatric hospitals where "But just recently, we asked our­ defense team an opportunity to prepare cerating dissidents in mental hospitals. dissidents are consigned and punished selves, what if he's not?" he said. for cross-examination of Mrs. Grabitz. Dr. Harold Visotsky, chairman of the with psychoactive drugs for their views, With lists that held 40,000 names (The defense had contended last week АРА Council on 1nternational Affairs, reported the Tribune."1 call them each it was a difficult task to identify that Mrs. Grabitz was called to testify and АРА spokesman Dr. Friedrich prisons," Dr. Visotsky said. one man from a particular camp. earlier than scheduled, and thus her Weinberger conferred in Vienna with "1f you give them really high doses, Spending seven years on the task, appearance was a surprise for which the delegates at a Conference on Security you can incapacitate them with the side­ they cross-referenced any mention of defense was not prepared.) and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), effects," he said. Many of the "treat­ guards in the existing eyewitness which is reviewing compliance with the ments" are not used in the West, he accounts with lists of accused war On Tuesday, March 31, John Gill began the defense's cross-examination. Helsinki accords. The meeting began added. criminals available in the U.S. The last November. Dr. Visotsky and Dr. Weinberger, co­ research they have done will be (That morning's session was delayed for two hours, because of a power outage According to The New York City founder of the 1nternational Associa­ invaluable to future scholarship Tribune, the association welcomed the tion on Political Use of Psychiatry, because no one has cross-referenced in the courtroom.) Mr. Gill established via the line of questioning he pursued release of Anatoly Koryagin, who was discussed the abuse of psychiatry with lists of war criminals to a particular imprisoned for his outspoken investiga­ members of the Soviet delegation to the camp before, that Mrs. Grabitz was not a specialist in any given field, but that when she tion of the use of psychiatry for politi­ CSCE on March 24. And they have found that most of needed to ascertain certain facts for the cal purposes in the Soviet Union. There are anywhere between 13 and the camp guard names were not Streibel trial she had to turn to experts "We are, however, concerned that 14 special psychiatric hospitals where Ukrainian, said Mr. Turchyn, though on documentation, handwriting, medi­ there seems to have been no systematic dissidents are consigned and punished he does not deny that there were cine, history, etc. 1t was also revealed change in the practice of placing dissen­ with psychoactive drugs for their views, some who were. Ukrainian-sounding that Mrs. Grabitz knows no language ters in mental hospitals in the USSR," reported the Tribune. "1 call them last names were extremely rare, other than German. Dr. Visotsky said in a statement re­ prisons," Dr. Visotsky said. however. The team ended up with Mrs. Grabitz's expertise as a witness leased at the CSCE. "1f you give them really high doses, 200 names of guards who had served stems from the fact that she was the '*We call upon General Secretary you can incapacitate them with the side­ in Trebiinka, Sobibor and one other prosecutor at the Streibel trial and thus Mikhail Gorbachev to end this abhor­ effects," he said. Many of the "treat­ camp, since some guards served in was familiar with the Trawniki camp. rent practice in the USSR and to have ments" are not used in the West, he more than one camp. Ten or 15 Mr. Gill also asked the witness to give an independent investigation of a11 cases added. names were found to be connected a description of Trawniki. Thus, it was of psychiatric patients who have been But Dr. Visotsky stated he did see "a with Trebiinka alone. '1earned that the administrators were interned because of political implica­ ray of optimism" that the psychiatric "Then we found a strange refe­ policemen, primarily folksdeutsche tions." abuse may come to an end after the rence number [in the Polish govern­ (persons of German ancestry) who Mr. Visotsky said there were nearly review of the entire Soviet penal system, ment listing] "referring to UNWCC, knew other languages in addition to З00 documented cases of Soviet citizens according to the Tribune. which we realized was a cross-refe­ German. These administrators took the being placed in mental hospitals be­ 1n other news, the son of Dr. Korya­ rence number to the United Nations oaths of loyalty from persons "recruit­ cause of their views, although he be­ gin was to have been released from War Crimes Committee list," he said. ed" by Streibel from among Red Army lieves the numbers are closer to 1,500 to prison March 26, thus clearing the way There they found the name of "1van," soldiers captured by the Nazis.