A survivor of a Nazi roundup of Jews in the Krakow area of occupied Poland in 1942 testified today that former SS Lt. Col. Martin Fellenz, on trial here for a second time on war crimes charges, was present on the last day of the deportations.
The 55-year-old businessman was first tried in 1962 in Flensburg when he was sentenced to four years imprisonment on conviction of aiding in two of the 40, 000 murders of Jews by the Nazis in Krakow. He was released shortly afterwards because the court had ordered deduction of his pre-trial detention from his term. He was rearrested and ordered to stand a second trial by the Federal high court.
The survivor, Caroline Backman of Frankfurt, 44, said she had personally seen Fellenz in Krakow. The former SS officer has denied he participated in the deportations. She also testified that she asked Fellenz on that day to save her aunt and that he did so. When the court president asked Fellenz about the woman’s testimony, he replied only that “I don’t remember.”
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