In Pursuit of Closure

History lives on as John Demjanjuk begins the last Holocaust trails for war crimes, working in the death camps in Sobibor.

It may seem like a pathetic form of revenge for those who have known the sufferings from the Nazi death camps but a once renounced Nazi thug was wheeled in pathetic state into the Munich courtroom this November. After herding up tens of thousands of Jews to be tortured and put to death the 86 your old started the court in a wheel chair and after barely putting together a coherent sentence. As the second trial began he was taken in on a stretcher covered in a blanket to his neck, but three German doctors had declared him fit to carry on. However during the trial he writhed around gasping for breath.

There were boo’s from the public gallery and no sympathy was shown. ‘It’s a pathetic attempt to seem more crippled than he is. He belongs in Hollywood’ the head of the Nazi hunting center in Jerusalem, Efraim Zuroff said. Damjanjuk is placed at the top of the centers most wanted list.
Demjanjuk’s alibi is that he was forced to work in the amps after being captured as a prisoner of war fighting in the Red Army. He also claims he never worked at Sobibor.

Contraty to his claims though, German persecutors say they have an identity card with his name and transfer orders showing he was active at Sobibor in 1943. He was even given the option to leave but chose to stay on being active in the purging of the Jews at every step.
While Nazi hunters achieved what they had been trying to do for Jews everywhere since 1945 Demjuanjuk’s lawyer called it ‘moral and legal double standards.’ His son said ‘it is farcical for anyone to say his is fit for trial.’

Jews, Christians and other faiths believe that God will be brought justice after death. Is this humiliating dragging in a dying man too much? Is it then right to leave this man until he dies? Or is it only fair in a secular world rich with varied beliefs to bring him to justice now. It certainly demonstrates the world ongoing support of the Jews and persecuted peoples around the world and demonstrates how history shapes what we live in today. Despite it being the last Holocaust trial we seem very far from closure.