European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 21, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse A photo accused War criminal John do an pfc a tent to translation of trial proceeding in Jerusalem court. Demjan Juk trial rivets Israel by Thomas a Friedman new York times before the trial of John Demjan Juk began in Jerusalem Many israelis predicted that in would be an Anticlimactic replay of the Adolf Eichmann War crimes Irlam in 1961. People thought in would arouse Little Public attention or press coverage. They could not have been More wrong. To almost everyone s Surprise the Demjan Juk trial has become nothing less than an obsession Tor Many israelis. The swell of interest thai built in the first few weeks of the trial which began feb. 16,Jlas led the government to broadcast the proceedings live on israeli radio and to provide a closed circuit television viewing Hall next to the courtroom to accommodate the hundreds of people who begin lining up each morning at 5 . 1o gel a seat at the trial. Indeed the proceedings of the Demjan Juk trial Are today the background noise of israeli society. Some people walk with transistor radios held to their ears following the testimony in what could be the last major nazi War crimes trial. Many bus and taxi Drivers automatically keep heir radio dials tuned to the proceedings. One woman said her dentist had the trial on his office radio in place of soothing classical music. Demjan Juk 66, a ukrainian bom retired american Auto worker who was extradited to Israel last year from. Cleveland is accused of boing Ivan the that was the name Given a guard who operated Gas Chambers and tortured prisoners at lha Treblinka death Camp where 850.000 jews were killed in 19-12-43. Demjan Juk says thai he was a prisoner of War during world War ii and that he is a victim of mistaken identity. Prime minister Yitzhak Shamir s spokesman Avi Pazner asked about the alte lion the trial has inc lived. Said we the government Media and educators were caught totally Olf guard by Iho Public s Ica Clion no one anticipated it. This trial has become the obsession at a generation which seemed to have no Loeling about the holocaust Panei said the thud generation of israelis people who not Only did not know he Holo Nusl but Ihor parents did not know my 14-year-old son who runs away from school Only to play soccer Paznar continued left school Early to Wail in line for two hours in order to sit in a room next to the court and watch it on closed circuit television. And this is no Clint Eastwood movie. What is being discussed is something terrible. But in is like some big flame attracting perhaps the most important explanation for this interest is also the Mast simple despite All the ritual attention to the holocaust in Israel and despite the role in plays in the country s collective memory and the sheer number of survivors there most israelis have either forgotten or never really Learned the details of what happened in this seminal event in jewish history they Are now captivated at fleeing the survivors Tell their stories for what May be the final time this in probably the last time we will bring to trial a major nazi said Zvi Weiss a High school student who went with his class to observe the trial. Our generation bears the responsibility to go and listen to this because from Here on in in is Only going to be the foreign ministry spokesman Ehud got said i m wailing to take my 11-year-old daughter on a Day when one of the survivors lest Ilies. I want her to hear something that Shell never forget for the rest of her Lite so that 30 or 40 years from now when her children come to her and ask what happened Shell have an one of the lessons of the Demjan Juk trial is that the life expectancy of the memory of the nazis systematic killing of jews in world War ii is not indefinite and that the memory of evil no matter How extreme has its limits. Many of the elderly witnesses still exhibit remarkable memories of Ivan the terrible irom the shape of his ears to his distinctive gait. But under Cross examination from Demjan Juk s american attorney Mark o Connor some of them had to concede thai elementary facts about Treblinka that they remembered a decade ago wore beginning to Lade. Perhaps one of the Saddest moments in the trial came with Tho testimony of Guslav Boraks 86, a Treblinka survivor who testified in yiddish. Al one Point in seemed thai he could not remember the Namo of his youngest son Yosof who was killed by the nazis bul Sud Dolly it came Back to Hinr i did t target he defiantly Lold Iho judge. As Boraks was helped out of his chair the chief judge Dov lovin said to hoped that the witness would never Havo to testily on his Camp experiences again what makes this Irlam All Iho More compelling 13 mat unlike Adolf Eichmann who was a bureaucrat charged with responsibility for Iho murder of s million people. The guard known As Ivan the to Roble was responsible Lor killing specific individuals in the most grotesque fashions Wim his own hands. Allol this is described in vivid Donail by witnesses. And in some ways evokes the True horror and depravity of Tho nazi deals Camps in a Way the Eichmann trial Nover could. One witness. Eliyahu Rosenberg 65, whose Job was to Burn bodies of men and women in Treblinka after they had Boon killed by Gas Lold Tho Couri m a Monotone that the bodies Woro burned in huge open air barbecues made up Concrete blocks with rails Over them. The bodies of women end children he said wore put Al the Bottom because in was found that for seme reason they burned belter than those of men. For Many israeli survivors of the nazis. Iho violence discussed at the trial is being viewed As their answer both to those who say the holocaust did not happen and to their own children who could never understand How the jews let in happen How powerless they were abandoned by the world. I listen Loil Ilko an addict like a Junkie said Luzhak Yaacov a City official in Jerusalem who was 10 years old when he was taken to the Auschwitz death Camp. My children who were born in Israel Ere also lied to the radio he said. It is bringing this whole thing to life for them. Ten years ago when my son was 14 years old. He came to me one Day and said father. I Don t understand Why you did not resist Why you just went like sheep to the Slaughter i told him i was four years younger than you Al that time. Ii was not so easy. How can you ask to such a question " it Hurt me very much Yaacov said. I Felt terrible. After this trial started my son who is now in College came to me and said father i want to apologize. I never should have asked you what i did actually i had forgotten All about in but he for All its educational value some Liberal israeli experts on the holocaust Are disturbed by the Demjan Juk trial. They argue that it contributes to an israeli self perception As this thay contend feeds a tendency in israeli society to Leel that the world owes it something thai Israel does not have to feel accountable for ils actions As other countries do because of what was done to the jews in world War ii. The trial these Liberal experts argue also distracts attention from pressing Domestic israeli issues such As israeli Power in the occupied territories. But others see lessons of the trial in precisely the opposite Light. An israeli philosopher David Hartman said in the civility of that court israelis Are saying that the holocaust did no create a world of Jungle in which they As victims can feel liberated from accountability to no he said we Are nol going to jus go out and kill Demjan Juk to Are going to bring him to account by the Rule of moreover Harlman said the Lii Al is beneficial because it reminds israelis at a Lime when the society is Drifting of Why the state was built he said the trial is saying you cannot Deal with the jews with impunity anymore. You Demjan Juk Are brought to trial by the jewish people the trial is held in hebrew by the Laws of the stale of Israel. You can just feel the dignity that comes to people Here when they no longer need to Appeal to the world for mercy but can instead demand a countability by the Lui of this mood was brought Homo in to Alimony by Alexander Ian shalom the israeli police oleic or who headed the unit investigating Demjan Juk in january ish shalom said he went to Iho Ayalon prison to question Demjan Juk when in shalom entered Dom an us s Ces. To recalled the prisoner asked him to leave and began pushing him out. Then in a declaration thai every jew Al Treblinka probably once dreamed of saying to his nazi oppressors ish shalom said he shouted at Demjan Juk this is israel1 Don i push to around11 have a right Lobo in your cull1" saturday March 21, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 17
