Archbishop Valerian Trifa (Nazi Archbishop)

[Padraig]

Well how do you think he got caught in the first place? Some former Jewish Prisoner saw this Archbishop and said wait a minute and knew who it was from their time in prison. I believe like 3 former jewish prisoners destified that this guy was a nazi. I believe them.
I dont think a few old people would conspire to get a Orthodox Bishop in hot water.

Well, seriously, what is the likelihood that these witnesses just happened to recognize him? You can be sure that they were sought ought and encouraged to recognize him.

There is a great deal of misinformation out there about Archbishop Valerian; I have seen claims that he was stripped of his U.S. citizenship, that he was deported to Romania, that he was convicted of war crimes, etc.

As I understand it, he was under investigation for having entered the U.S. under false pretenses, and there was some interest in deporting him to Israel to stand trial for war crimes. However, the Archbishop retired, voluntarily gave up his U.S. citizenship, and moved to Portugal. (At least, that's my recollection. I wouldn't swear to it.)

He claimed all his life that he was innocent, and only wished to avoid causing trouble to the church. His detractors claim he was guilty and wanted to avoid the consequences of his crimes.

There is no doubt that atrocities were committed by members of the Legion of the Archangel Michael. The relevant question is, what was the level of his involvement with the legion, and with specific acts of atrocity? And the answer is, we don't really know.

The most reasonable conclusion is that his history is suspicious, but his guilt is not proven.

Paul Celan, a Jewish survivor of the camps, said (I'm paraphrasing), "We were all Nazis. Everyone who survived was a Nazi." It was a time of unspeakable evil, when many quite average people committed acts that I suspect shocked even themselves, in retrospect. And though we know that war crimes were also committed on the Allied side, no Allied national ever stood trial for war crimes.

My personal view of this is that Archbishop Valerian has been dead for almost twenty years, and our time would be better spent concentrating on the war criminals who are running around loose today.

Patrick

[Seraphim Reeves]

The Jews have an insatiable appetite for vengence. This has clouded the judgement of many of their "never again" activisists, including so called "nazi hunters." Many innocent, elderly men have had the last years of their lives ruined through harassment and bogus trials, because of these immoderate souls.

One would figure that this is really a "dead issue", since the person who had been accused is now reposed. But for someone frothing at the mouth, desirious that "somebody" has to pay, this matters little.

Seraphim

[Reader Nicholas]

It was simply a case of that peanut from Georgia trying to gain credibility with Israel. Have you never heard of Ivan Demyanyuk and the HELL he endured? Do a google search and learn

[brendan]

It was simply a case of that peanut from Georgia trying to gain credibility with Israel. Have you never heard of Ivan Demyanyuk and the HELL he endured? Do a google search and learn

I remember that case. The evidence against him was so phoney that even the Israeli Supreme Court was finally forced to throw out the conviction. Didn't it come out eventually that the Office of Special Investigations in Washington had either forged some incriminating documents or suppressed documents that would have cleared Demyanuk?