The State We're In, 3 April 2010. Rob Fransman attends the trial of an accused Nazi war criminal who worked at the camp where his parents were murdered – even though he believes justice is impossible. “Chrislam”, a blending of Christianity and Islam, may be one way out of Nigeria’s religious conflict. And ‘house churches’ in China: why they continue to persist despite government crackdowns.
Photo: John Demjanjuk's identity card, Trawniki labour camp, Poland.
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Courtroom dramatics
Rob Fransman’s parents were murdered in Sobibor prison camp during WWII. John Demjanjuk is on trial for being a prison guard at the camp. Rob explains what attending the trial in person means, and doesn’t mean, in his personal quest for justice and tells Jonathan about his ambivalence over the meaning of justice. Rob wants the historical record to be complete, but is comfortable with his own grandchildren not knowing about the Holocaust.
LINKS: read Rob Fransman's account of John Demjanjuk's trial - 3 December 2009 and 9 February 2010
Stichting Sobibor - Demjanjuk trial resources
Chrislam
Nigeria has seen a lot of bloody conflict between Christians and Muslims, especially recently. But in one community, the two faiths have melded together in what’s called “Chrislam”. We hear from Christians and Muslims who worship together, including a Christian pastor and his Muslim wife.
House churches
Christianity in China is being persecuted as it grows in popularity. Underground churches are being demolished and their leaders thrown into labour camps. The vast network of government informants and enforcers are ensuring that underground churches remain there: underground.
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I don’t think Denjanjuk should be convicted even if he testified himself that he was a guard.
Did they prosecute a single German private from the entire WWII period for war crimes? Any even low ranking officers that were not simply following orders? Then why are they prosecuting a Soviet POW that was coerced into supporting the SS as essentially an indentured servant??
If this guy is guilty then so are all Wehrmacht WWII veterans from private on up. It doesn’t matter if you are shooting Americans in the Ardennes or loading concentration camp bodies into ovens, you would
a) not live long, not obeying orders and
b) even if you did martyr yourself, it wouldn’t stop the process for a moment.
Yes, the holocaust was a despicable war crime but it wasn’t a crime of those Wretched Wachmann Ukrainians, who were not even technically in the German armed forces, lower than a Shutze or Private. It was the SS and its senior command that designed and executed the holocaust.
If I was Demjanjuk and I was coherent and capable, I would instruct my lawyers to file a law suit against the state of Germany for illegally coercing him to contribute to his captor's war effort. That, specifically is a war crime -Read Geneva.
I have heard some of my German friends say but what if the Ukrainians were into it and their attitude was unreasonably sadistic? People, the things that they were ordered to execute were beyond horrific, Do you know really how you would get through that? I suggest that you have no idea what you would do.
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