Page 9 - Aruba Today
P. 9
WORLD NEWS 9
Friday 12 February 2016
Former Auschwitz guard, 94, goes on trial in Germany
DAVID RISING “Mr. Hanning, we are 94-year-old former SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp Reinhold Hanning, center, leaves the
Associated Press about the same age and building after the opening of his trial in Detmold, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Hanning faces
DETMOLD, Germany (AP) we will both soon be before trial for 170,000 counts of accessory to murder, the first of up to four cases being brought to court
— A 94-year-old former the highest court,” Schwar- this year in an 11th-hour push by German prosecutors to punish Nazi war crimes.
SS sergeant went on trial zbaum said, his voice qua-
Thursday in western Ger- vering and hands trem- (Bernd Thissen/Pool Photo via AP)
many on 170,000 counts bling. “Speak here about
of accessory to murder, what you and your com- sergeant Oskar Groening, the camp in Nazi-occupied that statement, saying that
based on accusations that rades did!” who served in Auschwitz, Poland, but denied serving Hanning had been “sur-
he served as a guard in the The trial is one of four ex- on 300,000 counts of ac- at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau prised” when authorities
Auschwitz death camp as pected this year against cessory to murder using the section, where most of the showed up at his house
hundreds of thousands of two other former SS men same reasoning. 1.1 million victims were and wasn’t fully aware he
Hungarian Jews and oth- and one woman alleged Hanning admitted to in- killed. was under investigation.
ers were gassed to death to have served in Aus- vestigators when first ques- As the trial opened, how- It wasn’t clear when the
there. chwitz. The 11th-hour pros- tioned that he had served ever, his attorneys filed a judges would rule on the
Reinhold Hanning seemed ecutions come after a new in the Auschwitz I part of motion asking to exclude motion. q
in good condition for his precedent was set in 2011,
age, walking into the court when former Ohio auto-
in the city of Detmold with- worker John Demjanjuk
out even the help of a became the first person to
cane and appearing to be convicted in Germany
listen attentively as the in- solely for serving as a death
dictment against him was camp guard, with no evi-
read aloud. dence of involvement in a
No pleas are entered in the specific killing.
German system. Hanning, Prosecutors successfully
who ran a local dairy after argued in the Demjanjuk
the war until he retired in case that simply serving in
1984, declined to give an a death camp, and thus
opening statement to the helping it operate, was
court. He showed no reac- enough to convict some-
tion as the first witness, Leon one of accessory to the
Schwarzbaum, a 94-year- murders committed there.
old Auschwitz survivor, read Although Demjanjuk al-
moving testimony about ways denied serving at the
his own experiences, then death camp and died be-
looked directly at Hanning fore his appeal could be
and made an emotional heard, prosecutors last year
plea. successfully convicted SS
Iranians rally to celebrate anniversary of 1979 revolution
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Irani- As in years past, demon- tween his supporters and ia and Iraq. Earlier this week next day.
ans held nationwide cel- strators chanted slogans hardliners. another purportedly recent Others burned an Ameri-
ebrations Thursday to com- against the U.S. and Israel, Qassem Soleimani, chief of picture of him appeared in can flag. Authorities also
memorate the anniversary and the streets in many cit- the Quds Forces of the elite Iranian media showing him displayed an array of
of the 1979 revolution that ies were decorated with Revolutionary Guard, also standing next to an Iranian weaponry and military
ousted a pro-Western mon- anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli showed up. His presence movie director. hardware, including the
archy and brought Islamists banners and posters. was notable because it fol- Some protesters Thursday Emad long-range ballistic
to power, with some mak- Many top officials ap- lowed rumors months ago made a point of taunting surface-to-surface missile
ing a point of taunting the peared at the rallies, in- that he had been seriously the United States. At one and a version of the Sha-
U.S. despite Iran’s landmark cluding President Hassan wounded in the civil war in rally, a group of demon- hed drone which flew over
nuclear deal with world Rouhani. The moderate Syria, where he has been strators reconstructed a a U.S. aircraft carrier in the
powers. president described Iran repeatedly dispatched to scene from last month of 10 Persian Gulf last month.
State television aired foot- as a peace-seeking nation help forces loyal to embat- American sailors kneeling in The rallies commemorate
age of rallies in Tehran working toward “stability in tled President Bashar Assad. Iranian custody. The sailors Feb. 11, 1979, when fol-
and other cities and towns the region and the world.” While shying away from the were captured after two of lowers of Ayatollah Ruhol-
across the country, many He urged Iranians to vote spotlight, Soleimani has their boats mistakenly en- lah Khomeini ousted U.S.-
of them in frigid winter in Feb. 26 parliamentary become a folk hero in Iran tered Iranian territorial wa- backed Shah Reza Pahlavi.
weather conditions. elections, a showdown be- over his exploits in both Syr- ters; they were released the q
