BER:OM, Germany, Oct. 21, 2009
Germany Rejects Alleged Nazi's Appeal
High Court Rejects 89-Year-Old John Demjanjuk's Attempt to Avoid Charges of Accesory to Murder in Concentration Camps
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John Demjanjuk is pictured on a World War II-era military service pass in this exhibit released by the Department of Justice in Washington. A German court has ruled that he can be tried for accessory to the murder of thousands of people at a Nazi concentration camp in Poland. (AP Photo/Department of Justice)
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Interactive Lessons Of Auschwitz A look back at the notorious Nazi death camp where some 1.5 million people perished.
Demjanjuk, a retired Ohio auto worker, is charged with being an accessory to the murder of 27,900 people at the Sobibor death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, where prosecutors allege he served as a guard. His trial is due to start Nov. 30.
Germany's Federal Constitutional Court said Wednesday that judges decided unanimously last week to reject complaints from Demjanjuk's lawyer, Ulrich Busch, about decisions to begin the trial and to keep the Demjanjuk in custody. It said that the ruling cannot be appealed.
In his complaints, Busch cited the 89-year-old Demjanjuk's health concerns, among other issues.
The Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk was flown to Germany from the United States in May after losing a long battle to avoid deportation. He has been in custody since.
He maintains that he was a Red Army soldier who was held as a prisoner of war and never hurt anyone.
The charges were filed in July after doctors determined that Demjanjuk was fit to stand trial as long as court hearings do not exceed two 90-minute sessions per day. They carry a possible maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Among the documents obtained by Munich prosecutors is an SS identity card that features a photo of a young, round-faced Demjanjuk along with his height and weight, and that says he worked at Sobibor.
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- During this period in German history it was either you went along with what the Nazis said or you died. Most Germans wanted their country back to normal after WWI and were willing to go to great extremes to get it back. The Nazis sounded like a pretty good idea, especially for as weak of a country that Germany was at the time. Let us remember that there were periods in the U.S history that governments like communism could have easily taken over. Now for a young man, joining the military (even for the Nazi Germany) sounds like a good idea. He was young and naive like all of us are or were. He was only doing what he thought was right without questioning the government. Would you question your government, especially if it looked like it was improving? Probably not. Now this man is in his 80s. He has had to live his whole life with the actions he has helped to commit. Do not think that people who served the Nazis are callous, inhumane people. They were simply doing what the government ordered them to do,as all of us would.
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- During this period in German history it was either you went along with what the Nazis said or you died. Most Germans wanted their country back to normal after WWI and were willing to go to great extremes to get it back. The Nazis sounded like a pretty good idea, especially for as weak of a country that Germany was at the time. Let us remember that there were periods in the U.S history that governments like communism could have easily taken over. Now for a young man, joining the military (even for the Nazi Germany) sounds like a good idea. He was young and naive like all of us are or were. He was only doing what he thought was right without questioning the government. Would you question your government, especially if it looked like it was improving? Probably not. Now this man is in his 80s. He has had to live his whole life with the actions he has helped to commit. Do not think that people who served the Nazis are callous, inhumane people. They were simply doing what the government ordered them to do,as all of us would.
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- I clearly recall this guy on the stand in Israel ,with the concentration camp survivor spewing hate at him -teeth clenched growl "I CAN NEVER FORGET THOSE EYES"-then PROOF came up he was not the man-then the faked Israeli "computer" correction of the old photo ,changing to become him _ALSO FAKED!!After all this scam against him for all these years-supported by the USA-only a kangaroo court could now get a conviction.
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- Are you Germans born stupid or do you take dumb pills till puberty? A 15 year jail sentence for an 89 year old man. No wonder we were able to bomb you idiots into the ground in WWII. Maybe his cellmate will be the former German soldier living in Rome under an assumed name....I think his new name is Benedict something...
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- He was probably only carrying out orders. Its like saying that American troops should be jailed for the war in iraq, everyone would disagree with that wouldn?t they
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- Are you being made aware of this, Bush? Cheney's robo-heart may fail before we get him on the carpet, but we don't care if you are 89 years old, sooner or later we will make you, and those who conspired, aided and abetted you pay for your crimes.
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- He isn't a retired Ohio auto worker, he is Ukrainian. If he has citizenship, we should strip him of it.
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