West Germany’s biggest war crimes trial since the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal of 1946, involving this time 22 former guards, officials and medical personnel at the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death factory, charged with complicity in the murder of 4,000,000 persons, most of them Jews, was resumed here today.
The proceedings, which opened two weeks ago and recessed, got under way in earnest today with the questioning of the accused “good” Nazis. Presiding Justice Hans Hofmyer heads the trial, with two other judges and three alternate jurists on the bench with him, while a jury of six and four alternate jurors are sitting by.
The first to be questioned today was Emil Bendarek, an inmate at Auschwitz who according to the prosecution, had his life spared when he agreed to help murder other prisoners. A trustee at the camp, Bendarek is accused of having beaten one man to death, helped kill eight others, and dousing other prisoners with cold water as they stood naked outdoors until they froze to death.
So far, all the accused have denied the charges of murder, torture and complicity in mass executions. Several of them have advanced the usual Nazi contention that they had to carry out orders to kill–or face death themselves. This contention, however is expected to be proven false by the prosecution through at least one witness.
The court is to hear testimony today from a Dr. Muench, now a resident of Bavaria, who had been a member of the Auschwitz medical corps. Dr. Muench had refused to follow instructions ordering him to take part in crimes against prisoners. He is to testify that, despite his disobedience of direct orders, he had suffered no reprisals from the Nazi regime. He had been tried earlier and acquitted by a Polish war crimes court.
Be ginning today, the trial is on a schedule of three days a week–Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. The proceedings are expected to last several months. The prosecution is expected to call a total of 254 witnesses, all former camp in mates, many of them Jews, from Israel, Western European countries and the United States.
The trial is being held in Frankfurt’s City Council chamber. Although space had been set aside for public observers, there were few spectators in the court room aside from a full complement of newsmen representing the press. radio and television.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
