5 ms·

what prompted/drove the trial? a local prosecutor/official, public comments by the defendant? not trying to imply it should not have taken place, merely curious

by zkett 10y ago

what prompted/drove the trial? a local prosecutor/official, public comments by the defendant? not trying to imply it should not have taken place, merely curious about the circumstance.

grahamel 10y ago
The article says "That changed with the 2011 conviction of John Demjanjuk, when a judge concluded that his activities as a camp worker in Nazi-occupied Poland amounted to complicity in mass murder." Also in a Guardian article[1] "The prosecution’s case has been built on the premise that, however low his rank, Hanning’s presence at Auschwitz made him part of the Nazi death machine and that he should therefore share responsibility for the Holocaust" And from a Time article[2] it says he was "initially assigned to register work details, away from the killing, but he later took a post in the guard tower" and "In his statement in court, Hanning did not describe witnessing selections or any personal involvement in killing. But he did admit to knowing about it. " [1]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/17/auschwitz-guard-set-to-hear-verdict-in-holocaust-trial https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/17/auschwitz-guar... [2]http://time.com/nazi-trials/ http://time.com/nazi-trials/
creshal 10y ago
Organizations like the Simon Wiesenthal Center assemble lists of known war criminals[1] and then forward them to police in Germany and other countries, who then assess the charges and, if found valid, try to press them (assuming they can still find the accused). It's a slow process, and one or two turn up every year. [2] has the arrest of a similar case. The case that set the precedent for these was John Demjanjuk[3], which, while so long that he died before the final hearings, cleared up the legal situation. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Most_Wanted_Nazi_War_Criminals_according_to_the_Simon_Wiesenthal_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Most_Wanted_Nazi_War_C... [2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22427976 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22427976 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demjanjuk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demjanjuk

by zkett 10y ago

what prompted/drove the trial? a local prosecutor/official, public comments by the defendant? not trying to imply it should not have taken place, merely curious about the circumstance.

grahamel 10y ago

The article says "That changed with the 2011 conviction of John Demjanjuk, when a judge concluded that his activities as a camp worker in Nazi-occupied Poland amounted to complicity in mass murder." Also in a Guardian article[1] "The prosecution’s case has been built on the premise that, however low his rank, Hanning’s presence at Auschwitz made him part of the Nazi death machine and that he should therefore share responsibility for the Holocaust" And from a Time article[2] it says he was "initially assigned to register work details, away from the killing, but he later took a post in the guard tower" and "In his statement in court, Hanning did not describe witnessing selections or any personal involvement in killing. But he did admit to knowing about it. " [1]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/17/auschwitz-guard-set-to-hear-verdict-in-holocaust-trial https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/17/auschwitz-guar... [2]http://time.com/nazi-trials/ http://time.com/nazi-trials/

creshal 10y ago

Organizations like the Simon Wiesenthal Center assemble lists of known war criminals[1] and then forward them to police in Germany and other countries, who then assess the charges and, if found valid, try to press them (assuming they can still find the accused). It's a slow process, and one or two turn up every year. [2] has the arrest of a similar case. The case that set the precedent for these was John Demjanjuk[3], which, while so long that he died before the final hearings, cleared up the legal situation. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Most_Wanted_Nazi_War_Criminals_according_to_the_Simon_Wiesenthal_Center https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Most_Wanted_Nazi_War_C... [2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22427976 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22427976 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demjanjuk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demjanjuk