Sobibor - Holocaust Propaganda And Reality - Unity of Nobility ...

174 J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR
which, as we have already mentioned, is based exclusively on Esther
Raab’s statements. 498
“One day before his departure [to America], Samuel suddenly
burst into Esther’s apartment, his face flushed with excitement. ‘Esther,
come quick! It’s him!’[ 499 …] Since Samuel was scheduled to
leave Germany the next day, he followed the police to the station
and gave them a brief statement about the crimes committed by SS
Oberscharführer Erich Bauer in Sobibór.’[ 495 …] ‘Samuel’s testimony
stretched into the late afternoon, and it was already early evening
when he finally left the station. He ran home to finish packing his belongings,
and the next day he left the country as planned. Now, Esther
remained the only person to witness against the notorious Bademeister.”
The wording of the sentence against Erich Bauer squarely contradicts
this account. When Bauer’s lawyer asked to have the two witnesses
“L.” and “R.” (Lerer and Raab) confront the two former SS men
“G.” (Hubert Gomerski) and “K.” (Johann Klier), the court struck down
the request, saying i.a.: 500
“An adjournment of the proceedings would also disallow another
objective of the defense, i.e. a confrontation of these witnesses with
the witnesses L. and R., because the latter have announced that they
are about to emigrate; thus a new main hearing would have to take
place without them.”
Hence, Samuel Lerer, at the time of the trial, had not yet emigrated
at all and was still in Berlin, continuing to be a witness for the prosecution
against Bauer. The arrest of the latter had incidentally taken place
in 1949, 501 which means that several months had passed between Bauer’s
identification by Lerer and the trial. It is inconceivable that Esther
Raab could have forgotten these circumstances and Lerer’s participation
in the trial, which means that she lied to Shaindy Perl on purpose. The
only motive for this would be egocentricity: Esther Raab apparently
wanted to be the only person to have tracked down Bauer all by herself
and without any help from Lerer.
498
499
500
501
S. Perl, op. cit. (note 62), p. 222.
S. Perl, op. cit. (note 62), p. 219.
LG Berlin, op. cit. (note 277), p. 7.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobibor-Prozess. J. Schelvis confirms on p. 236 that Bauer’s
arrest took place in 1949. On p. 247, though, he asserts that Bauer was arrested as early
as 1946 (op. cit. (note 71)). We assume that the former date, and not the latter, is in accordance
with the facts.