Steadfastly seeking justice

We must continue to try war criminals before time runs out—and you may be able to help.

Some people objected when 91-year-old, wheelchair-bound John Demjanjuk faced trial in a Munich courtroom in 2011 for war crimes committed at the Sobibor concentration camp during World War II.

It was a long time ago.
He’s an old man.
He’s incapacitated and deserving of pity.

Fortunately, the court believed there is no statute of limitations when it comes to the horrors of the Holocaust and convicted the Ukranian-born death camp guard of accessory to murder for the killings of 28,000 Jews. Demjanjuk, who was known as Ivan the Terrible during the Holocaust and later became an auto worker living in Seven Hills, Ohio, died in a German nursing home shortly thereafter.

Many of the Demjanjuks of that dark time are long gone, but the ones who remain must be held accountable, regardless of their age or health, because:

• Survivors who are still living deserve to see their tormentors punished.

• There is no statute of limitations on Holocaust victims’ nightmares, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

• It acknowledges and reinforces the suffering of those who did not survive and the Survivors who have since passed.

• It brings a measure of gratification to the children of Survivors, who—consciously or not—bear some of the consequences of their parents’ difficult lives.

• It demonstrates that civilized people will not turn a blind eye to those who target and kill individuals because of religion, race, nationality, gender identity, sexuality, disability, or another arbitrary demographic.

• It keeps alive the lessons and legacies of the Holocaust.

• If aging war criminals are not brought to justice now, the opportunity will be lost forever.

• The current infirmity of a war criminal pales in comparison to the torture he inflicted during the Holocaust.

JUSTICE TODAY

Efraim Zuroff is Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Chief Nazi Hunter, Director of its Israel Office, and Director of Eastern European Affairs. In a February 1, 2021, article in the Jerusalem Post, he explains that Germany tries suspected Nazis for war crimes, while the United States and Canada try them on the civil offenses of immigration and naturalization. If convicted in the U.S. or Canada, punishment includes denaturalization and deportation.

To date, Germany has convicted four war criminals of accessory to murder:

• 1 at Sobibor (Demjanjuk)

• 2 at Auschwitz (Goening and Hannig)

• 1 at Stutthof (Dey)

There are 14 active investigations:

• 1 from Berlin

• 3 from Buchenwald

• 1 from Mauthausen

• 1 from Munich

• 8 from Sachsenhausen

HOW YOU CAN HELP

We have learned that attorneys are working on indicting a guard from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. The legal team is looking for Survivors or their descendants who were in Sachsenhausen between 1942 and 1945, when this guard worked there. If your parents/relatives were interned in Sachsenhausen, they or you could be helpful in prosecuting this case.

Sachsenhausen was in Oranienburg, Germany, and was operational July 1936-April 1945. After Kristallnacht (November 1938), up to 30,000 Jews were arrested and taken to Sachsenhausen, Dachau, and Buchenwald. Almost 6,000 of those Jews arrived in Sachsenahusen following Kristallnacht. There was an increase in prisoners in mid-September 1939 when Germans arrested Jews holding Polish citizenship and stateless Jews living in greater Berlin. In Spring 1944, Nazi authorities began bringing thousands of Hungarian and Polish Jews from ghettos and other camps to Sachsenhausen as the need for forced labor increased. Many of these Jews were women. Prisoners were deported from Sachsenhausen to concentration camps, most often to Auschwitz.

Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland is assisting the attorneys who are prosecuting the current case. JFSA will help you or your loved one get in touch with the lawyers and/or fill out documents that may help gain a conviction.

If you or your relatives perished at or survived Sachsenhausen, please contact BOTH:
Gilda Katz gkatz@jfsa-cleveland.org
Jaime Lowy jlowy@jfsa-cleveland.org

YOUR TURN

How aggressively do you believe suspected war criminals should be prosecuted? Why?