The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

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SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS 239 Hence, in sharp contrast to the West German trials which applied penal law in existence at the time when the crimes are said to have been perpetrated, the East German communist judiciary applied laws which had been enacted only after the war, which is a crass violation of basic legal standards of nations under the rule of law. In addition to this, the verdicts themselves are filled with communist political and historical rhetoric which makes it at times difficult to read them. Here are a few selected quotes (emphasis added): “On 22 June 1941 the German Fascists continued their war of aggression, which they had begun in 1939, with their devious, insidious and treacherous assault against the USSR with the aim to destroy the Soviet Union as the first socialist state.” (Case 1018, p. 487) “With the creation of the fascist dictatorship the German imperialists immediately initiated measures to implement their plans for world domination which they had held for years.” (Case 1024, p. 637) “When the fascist tyranny was erected in Germany in 1933, the darkest epoch of human history began. The Hitler state as the power organ of the German monopoly capitalists […]” (case 1082, p. 387) “After the assault of the fascist troops against Austria…” (Case 1163, p. 471) “By prosecuting war crimes and crimes against humanity […] the determination of the workers’ and peasants’ state is documented to do anything in order that a war will never again originate from German soil. By this the socialist German Democratic Republic distinguishes itself decisively from the ruling order of the Federal Republic of Germany, whose aggressive character has not changed. Although they wish to make the world believe that there is no continuity between the Federal Republic of Germany and fascist Germany […] the domestic and international politics prove again their reactionary character. These neofascists and incorrigible militarists in West Table 5: East German Court Cases Addressing Gas Vans VOL.* # (COURT, DATE OF VERDICT IN YYMMDD)** I 1018 (LG Berlin 780814), 1024 (LG Karl-Marx-Stadt 760611) II 1044 (LG Karl-Marx-Stadt 711202) III 1082 (LG Neubrandenburg 610222) IV 1163 (LG Greifswald 520703) * Volume of Rüter et al. 2002ff.; ** case no. acc. to Rüter
240 SANTIAGO ALVAREZ, THE GAS VANS Germany have learned nothing from history. They propagate, 30 years after the assault on the Soviet Union that ‘this German offensive of June 22, 1941, was a classic preventive war.’ With approval and support of ruling circles in West Germany, the criminal SS units with their commanders march about, for instance, they ‘cultivate their tradition’ and are recommended as role models to the soldiers of the Bundeswehr.” (Case 1044., pp. 281f.) This lengthy introduction to the verdict, of which only a part is quoted here, makes the reader think that it was not the defendant who stood trial in that instance, but rather West Germany, which shows that those communist trials always also had an important political role in morally undermining and thus delegitimizing West Germany. As a whole, the East German verdicts are filled with such communist rhetoric and are thus very similar in tone to those of the Stalinist show trials in Krasnodar and Kharkov in 1943. This impression is reinforced by the courts’ occasional use of documentary evidence produced for these trials (see, e.g., case 1018, p. 501) as well as by making ample use of the testimonies of Soviet witnesses of yore. The verdicts also made dogmatic assertions about history and morals, which they then used as justification to ignore well-established legal principles and international law as valid during World War II, like the illegal nature of partisan warfare and the legality of executing partisans. For the East German court, which were basically lackeys of the Soviet Union, the Russian and Polish partisan fighters were patriots, whereas Germans fighting partisans where terrorists and murderers (see, e.g., case 1018, p. 517). Hence all the defendants in these cases were sentenced for each and every civilian they had killed, whether they had engaged in partisan warfare or not. As a consequence, all defendants either received a life term (cases 1018, 1044, 1163) or were even sentenced to death (cases 1024 & 1082). When it comes to the actual or alleged crimes committed, the verdicts often read like a dizzying staccato of frequently rather brief indictments. In all five cases studied here, all five defendants gave full confessions, as it is traditional custom in communist show trials (1018: p. 502; 1024: p. 649; 1044: p. 294; 1082: p. 394; case 1163: p. 474). Note also that the first three cases follow in the footsteps of West German cases dealing with the same alleged crimes but trying other defendants. Hence many of these East German trials look to me like
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what you see in TBR—but if you ar
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The Gas Vans: A Critical Investigation - Holocaust Handbooks

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