German prosecutors mull trying three alleged Holocaust perpetrators
Lawyers considering legal action against Kurt G., Herbert W. and Wilhelm Karl Friedrich Hoffmeister, who allegedly were members of firing squads
German prosecutors have identified three suspects from a 2014 list of nine alleged Holocaust-era war criminals accused of shooting countless Jews.
Kurt G., Herbert W. and Wilhelm Karl Friedrich Hoffmeister, allegedly members of the firing squads that murdered Jews in Eastern Europe during the Holocaust, have for months been under pre-trial investigation, each handled by a different regional prosecutor’s office, for alleged war crimes and participation in genocide, the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Eastern Europe director, Efraim Zuroff, told JTA Thursday.
Whereas six of the names on the list that Zuroff gave German prosecutors in 2014 were not located, they were able to identify three who they suspect were former members of the Einsatzgruppe C death squad, which took part in the massacre of tens of thousands of Jews in Babi Yar, Ukraine, in September 1941.
The investigation against two of the three men was launched after the ARD television channel interviewed them in September. They admitted to being members of that group on camera.
All three men being investigated are in their nineties.
Zuroff said he could not comment on the length of time that the preparation for their trial is taking. “I don’t have the information necessary to make that call,” he told JTA. But, he added, “the German perpetrators of the Holocaust showed great determination in killing Jews. I hope German prosecutors today demonstrate the same sense of urgency in serving justice to those war criminals.”
The path to prosecuting common executioners like Einsatzgruppen troops was paved with the 2011 conviction in Munich of former concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk as an accomplice in the murders of nearly 30,000 Jews in the Sobibor death camp in Poland. It set a precedent in that being a guard at a death camp was sufficient to prove complicity in murder.
Previous prosecutions of Nazi criminals were focused on the architects of the genocide, leading to “very few convictions” of people who actually did the killing, sometimes of hundreds of Jews in a single day, Zuroff said.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
