November 13, 2018
by Ruth Cohen
In 2011 I was surprised to get an email from someone in Philadelphia asking me to get in contact with a Mr. Thomas Walther, an attorney in Germany. He was one of two main prosecutors of World War II criminals active at that time. When we finally talked, he asked me if I would be willing to join a group of Auschwitz survivors who were being asked to fill out testimonials stating that Oscar Groening had been the bookkeeper in Auschwitz during the time I was there. He did not promise a positive outcome of the trial but promised that they would put their best effort forward.
The next time I spoke with him, he asked that I come to Germany, with all my expenses paid, to testify at the trial. “I cannot go to Germany,” was my answer. He understood and sympathized with my feeling. Walther asked if I could fill out a form he would send to me, regarding the time I spent in Auschwitz.
The prosecutors in that case were trying to overturn a 1969 ruling that stated being a staff member at Auschwitz was not enough reason to secure a conviction for crimes against humanity. This had been challenged in 2011 with the landmark conviction of John Demjanjuk, a killing center guard, who had been living in the United States and working in an automobile factory. Although he died in 2012 before his appeal could be heard, the outcome of that appeal was that the Federal Court of Justice did not reverse the lower court’s decision.
The case against Groening was not exactly the same because Demjanjuk was a Nazi guard, not just a camp staff member. Still, the prosecutors succeeded in convicting Groening. The conviction was appealed and when the appeal was not successful, he was sentenced to four years in prison to be served depending on the state of his health. A new precedent had been set. Since a verdict by the lower court in Luneburg is final and not to be challenged, this new legal precedent applied to prosecuting all remaining former Nazis. When I received the email in April 2015 alerting me of this news, I felt that a new era had arrived.
But now, maybe I think the new era is not yet here. Oscar Groening died at home on March 9, 2018, at the age of 96 years, waiting to hear about his jail time. In the end, he was spared the ordeal of imprisonment. The only positive thing is that even after his death, the impact of his verdict (upheld by the court in Luneburg and confirmed by the federal court in Karlsruhe) will stand for any other remaining Nazis. Convictions are possible for staff members, along with prison guards, who were actively working in concentration camps.
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