The German police released two photos that allegedly prove that Damianiuk served in the Sobibor camp • The photos were found in an album of the deputy extermination camp

• Damianyuk during his trial in Israel // Photo: Reuters

Was the proof that Damianiuk committed atrocities on the part of the Nazi regime? German police released two pictures on Tuesday, which she claims are John Damianiuk along with other guards in the Sobibor extermination camp. The footage was found in the recently released photo album of Deputy Commander Johan Niemann.

If the person in the pictures is indeed Damianyuk, this proves his presence in the extermination camp where some 200,000 Jews and several hundred Gypsies were murdered as part of the "Final Solution". According to the charges, Damianyuk - who was born in Ukraine, was drafted into the Ukrainian SS units and was a guard in the Sobibor extermination camp. After the war, Damianyuk fled to the United States, where he lived until suspicions were raised against him.

Damianyuk along with the guards of the Sobibor extermination camp

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After the suspicions surfaced against him - then on suspicion that he was a guard in Treblinka known as "The Terrible Ivan," Damianiuk was deported from the United States and extradited to Israel, where he was charged with participating in the Nazi regime's crimes of exterminating the Jewish people. The Jerusalem District Court convicted Damianyuk as "the dreaded Ivan" in 1988, and sentenced him to death.

However, in an appeal to Damianyuk in the Supreme Court, he was acquitted of doubt, mainly following documents uncovered in the KGB archives, which indicated he was a guard in Sobibor. After the trial, Damianyuk was returned to the United States, but there he was convicted of Malma crimes and deported to Ukraine.

Damianiuk was transferred to Germany in the year following a report by the German Holocaust Crime Investigation Unit, which stated that Damianiuk did serve as a guard in the Sobibor camp, and was issued a extradition order. Jews in the camp.

Damianiuk also appealed his conviction in Germany, but died before the appeal was sentenced, and Damianiuk died in the possession of an innocent. The new photos, which prove to be true that John Damianiuk did serve as a guard in the Sobibor extermination camp, were uncovered by an amateur historian in a private archive held by the grandson of the extermination camp commander. The grandson decided to pass the photos over to the police.

Johan Neiman, the deputy commander of the Sobibor extermination camp, became vicious about his inmates. Another officer in the camp told how Neiman executed several prisoners who were suspected of planning to flee the scene, himself. Neiman was assassinated by the inmates during the uprising. A Jewish soldier from the Soviet Red Army killed Neiman with a heavy blow.

Damianyuk during his trial in Israel // Photo: Moshe Shay

The Damianiuk affair has recently received a great deal of attention following a documentary series aired on Netflix and narrating the story of John Damianiuk's trial. Damianiuk's acquittal in Israel following a lack of evidence linking him to the actions of "Ivan the Terrible," a savager who became known for his cruelty in the Treblinka camp, has become a source of serious controversy as well as a storm in Israel.

John Damianiuk was known for his unbridled ferocity and sadistic pleasure from the torture and murder of his victims. Survivors from the Sobibor camp said that Damianiuk used to pick some prisoners in line for the gas chambers and kill them in various ways himself. After the war, Damianiuk managed to escape and settle in the United States.