Demjanjuk trial continues with more witnesses

A Munich court is hearing further evidence from survivors and family members on John Demjanjuk's alleged involvement in mass murder. Among those due to give evidence on Tuesday in the trial of alleged former death camp guard Demjanjuk is Jules Schelvis, 89, who was deported to Sobibor with his wife in 1943. While she was sent straight to the gas chamber, he was selected for work. Demjanjuk trial continues with more witnesses On Monday, relatives of Jewish Holocaust victims murdered by the Nazis at Sobibor spoke of their continuing pain at the loss they had suffered. The Munich court was told of how families had been rounded up during the Second World War before being taken away and killed. Concentration camp survivors are among 30 co-plaintiffs in an action that claims Demjanjuk assisted in the murders of at least 27,900 people at the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland, between March and September 1943. Demjanjuk, 89, sat in a wheelchair with his eyes shut wearing a baseball cap during the proceedings. One 86-year-old man, whose parents, sister and girlfriend were murdered at the camp, said: "Sobibor is a painful wound that can never heal for me. Those events have dominated every day of my life since." A 70-year-old man, whose father and pregnant mother were killed at Sobibor, told the court, "I am prosecuting on behalf of my parents," before adding, "I am also prosecuting on behalf of my unborn brother or sister." A 67-year-old who had been a baby when his father was taken said he did not find out what had happened until the age of six or seven. "I asked my mother why I didn't have any father to play football with like other boys did," he said. He was told and later found out that 74 of his relatives had been murdered in Nazi concentration camps. The trial had resumed after a three-week adjournment for Demjanjuk to recover from a slight infection. Proceedings are limited to two 90-minute sessions per day on the grounds of his poor health. The case is likely to be the last major Nazi-era war crimes trial in Germany. Demjanjuk was born in Ukraine and fought in the Soviet army but was captured by the Nazis and recruited as a camp guard. After World War II he emigrated to the United States, where he had lived in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, but was extradited in May. If convicted of being an accessory to murder, he could be sentenced to 15 years in prison. Prosecutors say that up to 250,000 Jews died at the camp, which was run by 20 to 30 members of the Nazi SS troop corps and up to 150 former Soviet prisoners. They say that victims died within 20 to 30 minutes of inhaling a mixture of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Among the prosecution's evidence is an identity card which appears to show that Demjanjuk worked at Sobibor. While he acknowledges having been at other camps, he claims that he was never there. His lawyers say that he should not be tried after being cleared of the same allegations, on the same evidence, by an Isreali court in 1993.

Demjanjuk trial continues with more witnesses

On Monday, relatives of Jewish Holocaust victims murdered by the Nazis at Sobibor spoke of their continuing pain at the loss they had suffered.

The Munich court was told of how families had been rounded up during the Second World War before being taken away and killed.

Concentration camp survivors are among 30 co-plaintiffs in an action that claims Demjanjuk assisted in the murders of at least 27,900 people at the Sobibor concentration camp in Poland, between March and September 1943.

Demjanjuk, 89, sat in a wheelchair with his eyes shut wearing a baseball cap during the proceedings.

One 86-year-old man, whose parents, sister and girlfriend were murdered at the camp, said: "Sobibor is a painful wound that can never heal for me. Those events have dominated every day of my life since."

A 70-year-old man, whose father and pregnant mother were killed at Sobibor, told the court, "I am prosecuting on behalf of my parents," before adding, "I am also prosecuting on behalf of my unborn brother or sister."

A 67-year-old who had been a baby when his father was taken said he did not find out what had happened until the age of six or seven.

"I asked my mother why I didn't have any father to play football with like other boys did," he said. He was told and later found out that 74 of his relatives had been murdered in Nazi concentration camps.

The trial had resumed after a three-week adjournment for Demjanjuk to recover from a slight infection. Proceedings are limited to two 90-minute sessions per day on the grounds of his poor health.

The case is likely to be the last major Nazi-era war crimes trial in Germany.

Demjanjuk was born in Ukraine and fought in the Soviet army but was captured by the Nazis and recruited as a camp guard.

After World War II he emigrated to the United States, where he had lived in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, but was extradited in May. If convicted of being an accessory to murder, he could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Prosecutors say that up to 250,000 Jews died at the camp, which was run by 20 to 30 members of the Nazi SS troop corps and up to 150 former Soviet prisoners. They say that victims died within 20 to 30 minutes of inhaling a mixture of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.

Among the prosecution's evidence is an identity card which appears to show that Demjanjuk worked at Sobibor. While he acknowledges having been at other camps, he claims that he was never there.

His lawyers say that he should not be tried after being cleared of the same allegations, on the same evidence, by an Isreali court in 1993.