The Germans have built a house of cards and the hurricane is coming.
Some of the media appears blinded by the emotional subject matter of the Munich proceedings. They have written that my father has admitted being in Sobibor or has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations. In fact, throughout the past 30 yrs of legal proceedings he has consistently denied, and continues to deny, any allegations regarding participation in the Holocaust and it remains the prosecutor's burden to prove otherwise. His attorney, Dr. Ulrich Busch has argued the same and in opening motions referred to generic POW Trawnikis being coerced into service by fear of death, not specifically John Demjanjuk. Some have condemned the comparison of a generic POW Trawniki to a Jewish death camp worker. They are ignorant of the case files which support Dr. Busch's arguments and hold information from investigations having taken place over the last 60 yrs. The comparison is not legal conjecture but based on historical evidence which will stand the test of litigation. The events of the Holocaust are shocking and indisputable; however, the Munich trial is a travesty of justice. Of course, the survivors and families are not responsible for what is being perpetrated by the Munich prosecution, co-prosecuting attorneys and judiciary. As history has proven, it is Germany that is to blame for their suffering and also my father's since being captured as a Red Army POW.
The prosecutors have invited co-prosecutors to participate as
permitted by German law. The Munich prosecutor has documentary evidence
from over 50 witnesses who gave testimony independently during the past
60 yrs to German, Polish, Canadian and Soviet investigators. They
collectively validate as historical truth that Soviet POWs like my
father were treated inhumanely and murdered by starvation. The
testimonies individually and collectively validate that POW Trawnikis
were coerced under fear of death into service and shot for planning
desertion, attempting escape, theft of valuables, etc.
The co-prosecuting attorneys should also be aware that among the
witnesses to be called by them are 2 German citizens who did not serve
in Sobibor but in other Nazi death camps including Belzec and Treblinka
(Indictment prosecution witnesses listed as #4 Nagorny and #5 Kunz).
The Munich prosecutor has multiple investigative reports regarding
these German citizens having committed specific murders, yet they have
not been prosecuted to date. Rather, the true Nazi murderers and German
citizens being shielded by the prosecutors while they try to convict a
Ukrainian POW against whom there is admittedly no evidence of a single
murder, not even a simple assault. The evidence against the
prosecutors' living Nazi witnesses self-explanatory and attached. Here
are two excerpts from the testimonies:
Testimony of Bronov, Sept 5, 1950, Pages 2,3: "Because of poor shooting, many of the people doomed to death were only wounded. Kunts saw their suffering, approached Pichulyak, and took his rifle, as he was only armed with a pistol. Then, while saying the words "that is not how we shoot them," he fired several times at the prisoners lying in the pit."
Testimony of Knysh, Jan 29, 1948, Page 8: "Aleskej Nagornyj" "He served as an SS Wachmann in the detachment of the "Travniki" concentration camp from the first days when the camp was established. He then served as an SS Wachmann in the "Treblinka" concentration camp and in the Ostarbeiter camp in Rostok. From his statements to me, I know that he participated in a shooting of 3,000 prisoners".
For the Sobibor survivors attending the trial, families of the victims and the gallery of media reporting to the world to be unaware of the investigative material is understandable. However, the attorneys who are co-prosecuting with the Munich team must be aware of their own investigative files. The German court, prosecutors and attorneys of the co-plaintiffs (Nebenklaeger) are exploiting the Jewish survivors and victims' families for the purpose of showing the world that Germany is not guilty. For Germany, the motive to convict POW John Demjanjuk is to acquit Germany.
*Nebenklaeger is
a co-plaintiff or co-prosecutor as is permitted by German law. The
Munich prosecutor invited the Sobibor survivors and family of victims
to join his case against John Demjanjuk.