Jerome Brentar, 84, ran travel agency, gained fame as Demjanjuk supporter Tuesday, December 05, 2006 Alana Baranick Plain Dealer Reporter Jerome Brentar, who helped numerous Eastern European immigrants get established in Cleveland but gained wider fame for helping fight government allegations that John Demjanjuk served as a Nazi guard during World War II, died Friday. The 84-year-old retired travel agent was pronounced dead at Euclid General Hospital after being found on the floor at his Cleveland home. Cuyahoga County Coroner Elizabeth Balraj said Brentar's death was the result of a head injury. She will rule after an investigation. Brentar generated controversy as a Demjanjuk supporter, spending 17 years interviewing Nazi guards and camp survivors to help clear the Seven Hills auto worker from a death sentence in Israel in the 1990s. Brentar, who had screened thousands of refugees looking for help from the United Nations International Refugee Organization in the late 1940s, also testified in depositions on behalf of other men accused of working with Nazis. Joseph McGinness, a lawyer who defended such clients, said, "Jerry was probably one of the kindest people you'd ever want to meet, and he had a big heart. He was a person who was constantly in pursuit of truth and justice." Brentar, a Cleveland native and son of Croatian immigrants, founded Europa Travel, which became one of the largest chartered booking agencies in Cleveland. For decades, he opened his home to newly arrived immigrants, who stayed with his family until he helped them land jobs and find homes. He sponsored local performances of Croatian musical groups to expose Clevelanders to other cultures. MY NOTE: Jerry was a young soldier at the close of WW II in Europe. He found a camp filled with women and children in Austria.... they all spoke Croatian. These people had lost their husbands and fathers to the war... he brought 50 of these women and children to the US, the first Croatian refugees to be allowed into America under the DP Act... Jerry never stopped he defended those who had no one on their side and most recently helped Croatian Bosnian refugees (inc those of Muslim faith) POKOJ VJECNI We will miss him! Robert "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts", Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Out of curiosity Robert. Who survived him? Wasn't he married to an "Alenna"? On Dec 7, 2006, at 8:41 PM, Robert Jerin wrote: Jerome Brentar, 84, ran travel agency, gained fame as Demjanjuk supporter Tuesday, December 05, 2006 Alana Baranick Plain Dealer Reporter Jerome Brentar, who helped numerous Eastern European immigrants get established in Cleveland but gained wider fame for helping fight government allegations that John Demjanjuk served as a Nazi guard during World War II, died Friday. The 84-year-old retired travel agent was pronounced dead at Euclid General Hospital after being found on the floor at his Cleveland home. Cuyahoga County Coroner Elizabeth Balraj said Brentar's death was the result of a head injury. She will rule after an investigation. Brentar generated controversy as a Demjanjuk supporter, spending 17 years interviewing Nazi guards and camp survivors to help clear the Seven Hills auto worker from a death sentence in Israel in the 1990s. Brentar, who had screened thousands of refugees looking for help from the United Nations International Refugee Organization in the late 1940s, also testified in depositions on behalf of other men accused of working with Nazis. Joseph McGinness, a lawyer who defended such clients, said, "Jerry was probably one of the kindest people you'd ever want to meet, and he had a big heart. He was a person who was constantly in pursuit of truth and justice." Brentar, a Cleveland native and son of Croatian immigrants, founded Europa Travel, which became one of the largest chartered booking agencies in Cleveland. For decades, he opened his home to newly arrived immigrants, who stayed with his family until he helped them land jobs and find homes. He sponsored local performances of Croatian musical groups to expose Clevelanders to other cultures. MY NOTE: Jerry was a young soldier at the close of WW II in Europe. He found a camp filled with women and children in Austria.... they all spoke Croatian. These people had lost their husbands and fathers to the war... he brought 50 of these women and children to the US, the first Croatian refugees to be allowed into America under the DP Act... Jerry never stopped he defended those who had no one on their side and most recently helped Croatian Bosnian refugees (inc those of Muslim faith) POKOJ VJECNI We will miss him! Robert "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts", Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to CROATIA- request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message