In News
First Day of the Demjanjuk Trial - "There is no difference between me and another Holocaust survivor"
The first day of Demjanjuk's trial ended for today. The line of defense: "I'm no different from the Jews, the Holocaust survivors; I acted under threat of death." Due to his ill health, the court hearings will be held for 90 minutes, twice a day. Trial likely to last until May.
One of the plaintiffs’ lawyers rejected that argument, saying, "Trawnikis (prisoners, mainly from the Ukraine and other Soviet countries, who were trained in the city of Trawniki in eastern Poland and helped the SS in the concentration camps and ghettos) were well fed and taken care of, Jews weren’t. Trawnikis drank and partied in the camps, Jews didn’t. Trawinki murdered, Jews did not."
At the opening of the trial the defense accused the judges and prosecutors of bias against Demjanjuk, "while German officers were acquitted of blame at Sobibor, Demjanjuk stands trial for acts he did under the threat of death.”
The trial opened several hours late, and Demjanjuk came to court in a wheelchair. According to the Agence France-Presse (AFP), the reason for the delay stems from the fact that the trial organizers were not prepared for the large number of people who came to watch the trial, including hundreds of journalists who came to cover the trial and the relatives of many Holocaust survivors.
Due to the ill health of the accused, trial hearings will be held for 90 minutes, twice a day. The trial is expected to continue until May and if he is convicted, he will be sent to 15 years in prison; i.e., he will probably die in a German jail.
Demjanjuk is accused of collaborating with the Nazis and assistance in the murder of 27,900 Jews in the Sobibor extermination camp during the Holocaust. There are no live witnesses in this trial, but the German media reported that the prosecution have a key witness, who can connect Demjanjuk with certainty to the Sobibor camp at the time in question, and his testimony, added to dozens of testimonies given by people who are not alive anymore and hundreds more documents that identify Demjanjuk as a guard at the camp will convict the murderer.
President Shimon Peres attended a ceremony today to mark 65 years since the killing of seven Israeli paratroopers who parachuted into Europe during World War II and were murdered by the Nazis. Peres referred to Demjanjuk's trial in his speech: "True, he's not young and healthy anymore – but justice always remains young," he said.
The Mission Continues As in the past so it remains today - we were and still are under the selfsame commitment to adhere to the directions of the Gedolei Yisrael, who stand guard against breaches of purity threatening our camp. When we were required to ask – we asked. When we were instructed to depart – we left. The moment we are summoned back to raise the flag, every other consideration is pushed to the side and we answer: We are ready!
The Command, and the Retreat In light of the comments recently made by Gedolei Yisrael, shlita, "Etrog" – a site that is completely free of lashon hara – has decided to discontinue its services on the internet. From this moment on, there will be no news or other informative postings on the portal
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