Main focus of Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Alleged Nazi war criminal to go on trial

The alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk arrived in Germany on Tuesday after being extradited from the US. The state public prosecutor has accused the 89-year-old Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk of having a hand in the murder of 29,000 Jews in the Sobibor extermination camp. Now he is to stand trial in Munich.

Sme - Slovakia

The liberal daily Sme welcomes the extradition of suspected Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk to Germany as well as his pending trial: "When the American authorities went to collect Demjanjuk in April his relatives protested against his threatened extradition. His son explained that his father suffered from leukaemia and his lawyer called deportation to Germany 'torture'. … But unlike his victims Demjanjuk was able to grow old. … That Demjanjuk himself almost became a victim of the Nazis does not justify that he voluntarily humiliated and tyrannised men, women and children and sent them to their death in the gas chambers. Unlike his victims he now has the chance to defend himself against the fact that he quite rightly is at the top of the list of most wanted war criminals. The trial against him and the witnesses' statements are the best answer to those who deny the Holocaust." (13/05/2009)

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The Independent - United Kingdom

Tony Paterson, Germany correspondent for the liberal daily The Independent, praises the German judicial system for bringing the case of the alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk to trial: "Germany's legal authorities can ... take credit for bringing Mr Demjanjuk to justice. They have failed to bring charges against many German Nazis in the past. But in the Demjanjuk case, they were the ones who were finally able to unearth evidence which may now lead to his conviction. Yet few German commentators were singing their praises yesterday. Perhaps not surprisingly most of the comment was provided by Germany's Central Council of Jews. Stephan Kramer, the organisation's general secretary, said that it was almost irrelevant whether Mr Demjanjuk was imprisoned for his crimes. 'What is important is that we will get a discussion about justice in post-war Germany and how the justice system has dealt with Nazi crimes,' he said. Many non-Jewish Germans would agree with him." (13/05/2009)

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Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany

The trial of alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk in Munich is really about his crime, not his punishment, writes the Süddeutsche Zeitung: "The trial against John Demjanjuk will no doubt be the last Nazi war trial. These last trials were and are horrible not because the Nazi henchmen have become so horribly old, but because the German criminal justice system has taken so horribly long and been so horribly lenient. Are we to think that the trial against the old Demjanjuk is now an attempt to compensate for past lapses? If so, it won't succeed. The post-war justice system's failures can no longer be atoned for. But today's judiciary can at least establish Demjanjuk's guilt. That is the only thing this trial is about - ascertaining guilt for the murder of untold thousands of people." (13/05/2009)

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Trouw - Netherlands

Among other crimes, the alleged Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk is said to bear partial responsibility for the death of around 27,000 Dutch Jews. The trial against him is also important for the victims' families, writes Johannes Houwink ten Cate, professor at the University of Amsterdam's Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, in the daily Trouw: "Whether he is condemned or not, the trial should ascertain whether Demjanjuk was in the Sobibór extermination camp, and what responsibilities he had. It will also provide greater awareness for the mass murders in Sobibór, which is important because many people ... think that all of the Jews from the occupied Dutch territories were murdered in Auschwitz. The trial (and the German criminal law system) is finally giving members of the victims' immediate families the possibility of appearing as co-plaintiffs beside the federal prosecutors with roughly the same rights. Already more than twelve immediate family members have come forward worldwide. They're after justice, not revenge. If these relatives of the victims want the trial to go ahead and wish to appear as co-plaintiffs, who can deny them that right?" (13/05/2009)

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