Of Victims and Perpetrators — Demjanjuk 1
December 1st, 2009 at 15:58
This photograph of John (Iwan) Demjanjuk being wheeled into a German courtroom in Munich reminds me of my grandfather shortly before he died: an old man, ill and barely conscious; an old Nazi who lived a full life, had children, grandchildren, a nice house in the suburbs; a perpetrator who saw himself as victim; a typical “Mitläufer” who for fear of his and his family’s life joined the NSDAP, avoided resistance, hung a photograph of Hitler in his living room, and somehow forgot to take it down when the Nazis no longer officially ruled Germany — that’s how I remember my grandfather.
My grandfather died in 1983. He is not affected by the proceedings in the German courtroom, he doesn’t care about the outcome of the trial. To my grandfather the trial of John Demjanjuk doesn’t mean a thing. To me it means a lot.
If Iwan Demjanjuk the perpetrator may no longer hide behind John Demjanjuk the victim, I can no longer hide my grandfather the perpetrator behind the invented figure of the innocent “Mitläufer.” I look at the photograph of Demjanjuk and I see my grandfather. I look the photograph of my grandfather and I see a perpetrator. I look in the mirror — I’m glad I resemble my grandmother.
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++ Heinrich Wefing writes in DIE ZEIT on Germany’s reluctance to put non-German Nazi criminals to trial (in German)
++http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/01/nazi-death-camp-accused-trial
++http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/01/john-demjanjuk-trial-sobibor
++http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/world/europe/01trial.html?ref=world
++http://www.lemonde.fr/europe/article/2009/12/01/demjanjuk-survivant-de-l-holocauste-plaide-l-avocat_1274501_3214.html#ens_id=1273811
Posted: December 1st, 2009
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