Germany gets go-ahead to prosecute 'Ivan the Terrible' in last Nazi trial

Germany is preparing for what could be the last Nazi war criminal trial as the country's highest court ruled a former death camp guard known as 'Ivan the Terrible' can be tried in Munich

Ivan Demjanjuk, alleged to be Ivan the Terrible, moved to
America in 1952 and changed his first name to John Photo: AP

Ukrainian-born Ivan Demjanjuk, 88, is alleged to have been involved in the murder of over 29,000 Jews when he served as a guard in several Nazi prisons including the death camp Sobibor in Poland during World War II.

Demjanjuk moved to America in 1952 and changed his first name to John, and now lives as a retired car worker in Ohio.

Last month, a court in Munich ruled that Demjanjuk, who was dubbed Ivan the Terrible for his role in the mass murder, could not be charged in Germany. But Germany's Federal Court of Justice has overturned the verdict, making it possible for Demjanjuk to be indicted and tried in Munich, where he lived before emigrating to America.

The court ruling read: "Demjanjuk, who is accused of involvement in the killing of at least 29,000 Jews in the Sobibor extermination camp in Poland in 1943, lived for several months in 1951 in a camp in the current jurisdiction of the court."

The office of the German Federal Prosecutor indicated that new evidence that surfaced after Demjanjuk trial in Israel in 1986 would be sufficient to charge him with war crimes. Demjanjuk always denied having served in the Nazi army and claimed to have been fighting in the former Soviet armed forces.

German authorities are now expected to seek extradition and put Demjanjuk on trial, which is likely to be the last high-profile process of an alleged Nazi war criminal. Demjanjuk was already extradited to Israel once where he was sentenced to death in Israel in 1986, but a higher instance court overturned the verdict for lack of evidence and he was allowed to return to America.

Demjanjuk's relatives in America repeatedly said that he was too old to stand trial, but Charlotte Knobloch, president of Germany's Central Council of Jews, urged authorities to "do everything legally possible to accelerate the process so that Demjanjuk can be held responsible for his crimes during his lifetime."

"Demjanjuk and all other Nazi criminals still alive should know that for them there is no mercy," Mrs Knobloch said.

Telegraph

Jewish leader sounds alarm after racist attack

· Brutal assault on Indians sparks call to curb far-right
· East German xenophobia 'scaring off foreign firms'

A leading member of Germany's Jewish community has accused the government of failing to control rightwing extremism following an attack on a group of Indian men in an eastern town. Stephan Kramer, the general secretary of the Central Council of Jews said that until a nationwide action plan was launched to tackle the problem, attacks on minorities would only get worse.

His remarks followed a brutal attack on eight Indians in the town of Mügeln, near Leipzig, at the weekend. During a town festival the men were chased through the streets by around 50 young Germans, who hurled abuse at them, including the taunt "foreigners out". All of the men were beaten up, one of them seriously. "Yesterday it was coloured people, today it's foreigners, tomorrow it'll be homosexuals and lesbians and maybe Jews," Mr Kramer told the German daily newspaper Taz.

Prior to the Mügeln incident, police had been braced for trouble in certain east German towns as rightwing extremists commemorated the anniversary of the death of Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess.

Mr Kramer said that parts of former communist eastern Germany were "no-go" areas, which people who looked foreign should be warned against visiting. He accused the government of "delivering the same sentiments" every time there was an attack, but failing to produce results with its anti-extremist strategy. "This isn't hysteria," he said. "This is the bitter truth."

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, condemned the attacks and pledged to put the issue high on the agenda at a strategy meeting of her grand coalition taking place today and tomorrow. "It is not acceptable for people in German cities to be chased through the streets and beaten," she said through her spokesman, Thomas Steg.

There is increasing evidence to suggest that the frequency of far-right attacks is having a detrimental effect on the ability of parts of eastern Germany to attract foreign investment and tourism. "These no-go areas - so-called foreigner-free zones - really exist and non-Aryans know why they don't go there," an expert on rightwing extremism, Anetta Kahane, said. "The fact is that many American or Asian firms that have a mix of employees don't come to east Germany."

The Mügeln incident came almost exactly 15 years after a far-right attack on a home for asylum seekers near Rostock, in which 120 people narrowly escaped death. That attack led to a political outcry and closer monitoring of far-right activities.

Yesterday prosecutors said they were investigating two men from Mügeln, aged 21 and 23, for being behind the recent attack and were looking at charging them for breaching the peace. The town's mayor, Gotthard Deuse, drew criticism after insisting that those who assaulted the Indians were not locals and that the area did not have a far-right problem.

Guardian

German Jewish leader calls for ban on neo-Nazi party

A Jewish leader in Germany has called for a ban on the NPD neo-Nazi party.

"Political leaders must resume the banning procedure," Dieter Graumann, vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told the daily Frankfurter Rundschau. "If the NPD were banned, the party would at least not have at its disposal the millions that it currently receives as electoral campaign support to propagate hate."

The NPD is represented in two regional parliaments in eastern Germany.

Banning the party has been a recurring debate in the country. A potential ban has been supported by several political leaders, including Berlin’s social-democratic mayor, Klaus Wowereit, but legal hurdles remain. The last attempt to ban the party was dismissed by Germany’s constitutional court in 2003.

Graumann’s call to ban the NPD came as extreme-right demonstrators took to the streets in the city of Frankfurt on Saturday but were outnumbered by counter-protesters, with police arresting 200 people. Some 550 far-right demonstrators gathered in the afternoon in the western city compared to 3,500 counter-protesters, police said.

Regional authorities had authorised the extreme-right demonstration. Many demonstrators arrived late, however, with counter-protesters blocking the area where they were to gather. Police arrested those who had blocked areas including a public transport station.

European Jewish Press