Jerusalem District Court Judge Zvi Tal Editorial Image

Jerusalem District Court Judge Zvi Tal was one of the 3 judges who presided at the trial of John Demjanjuk in the Jerusalem Convention Center, Binyenei Ha`ouma; August 3, 1987. A Ukrainian national, Demjanjuk lied about his war experience and was able to emigrate to the United States and obtained citizenship, become a Cleveland auto worker. He was convicted in Israel, but some months later was released when it was revealed that he was the victim of mistaken identity. He was not Ivan Marchenko, a brutal Treblinka concentration camp guard, known as Ivan the Terrible. Years later Demjanjuk was deported from America a second time and was convicted for assisting in war crimes at the Sobibor concentration camp. He was free on appeal, and his death, at age 91, was revealed on March 17, 2012. Tal later became a judge on the Israeli Supreme Court. In 2019 Netflix unveiled a multi-part documentary on the trial, making extensive use of archival footage.