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

184 J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR
Whether an SS man had committed such “excesses” in an extermination
camp was obviously something which the court could only ascertain
on the basis of testimonies. As there were always plenty of witnesses
on hand during these trials, all eager to ascribe the most horrifying
deeds to any one of the defendants, the court could easily put pressure
on the SS men in the dock. After all, it was entirely up to the
judges to classify witness statements as “credible” or not.
The unbreakable rule was that a defendant could deny specific
charges leveled against himself, but not the extermination of the Jews
per se. Such latter arguments were considered “obstinate denials” and
led to a more severe punishment. It is obvious that the defendants had
been instructed accordingly by their lawyers who, for reasons of expediency,
preferred not to question the concept of “extermination camps”
drawn up by the courts, restricting themselves to insisting on the personal
innocence of their clients or, at least, claim that the men had acted
under military orders.
This was obviously true for the Sobibór trial at Hagen as well. Thus
Albert Rückerl could state unopposed: 522
“In the main hearings, the defendants argued strongly against
any excessive individual murder charges. They did not, however, deny
their having participated under orders in the activities accompanying
the mass gassings of Jews at Sobibór.”
The sentencing of SS-Unterscharführer Erich Fuchs must be interpreted
against this background. Fuchs was on trial for aiding and abetting
with others the murder of at least 79,000 persons, but had escaped
with a black eye and four years imprisonment. In March of 1963, long
before the Hagen trial, Fuchs had declared the following in an interrogation
by the prosecution: 523
“On Wirth’s orders, [524] I drove a truck to Lemberg and picked up
a carburetor engine which I took to Sobibór. On my arrival at Sobibór,
I could see, near the station, an area with a concrete structure
and several solid houses. The local Sonderkommando was headed by
Thomalla. Other SS men present were F., B., Stangl, F., Schwarz, B.
as well as some more. We unloaded the engine. It was a heavy Russian
gasoline engine (probably a tank or tractor engine) of at least
200 HP (V-engine, 8 cylinders, water-cooled). We placed the Motor
522
523
524
A. Rückerl (ed.), op. cit. (note 36), p. 85.
A. Rückerl (ed.), op. cit. (note 36), p. 166.
Christian Wirth, Inspector for Beec, Sobibór and Treblinka.