German prosecutors consider new evidence in Nazi war crimes trials

02 February 2010

Heinrich Boere, an 88-year-old German accused of assassinating three Dutch civilians during World War II, may be responsible for the deaths of seven other people. In Aachen, in western Germany, Boere currently stands trial for shooting dead three men suspected by the Nazis of helping the Dutch resistance. Private co-prosecutors now said they had filed formal complaints with the German prosecutor that Boere infiltrated resistance circles and betrayed a series of people who protected fugitives from the Nazis. Subsequently, seven of the helpers were arrested by the Nazis and murdered. The complaint accuses Boere of murder in those cases as well.

A lawyer said the details illustrated Boere's malice and said he was an enthusiastic Nazi. During his testimony, Boere argued that he had been under the discipline of the SS and simply followed orders.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Munich, where the Ukrainian-born Ivan (John) Demjanjuk is standing trial for allegedly being an accessory to the murder of 27,900 Jews at the Sobibor death camp, are investigating if Demjanjuk was involved in the death of a Jewish man in Ulm, Germany, in 1947. The victim was run over by a truck, and the only witness still alive has now said the truck driver had “looked like an Ukrainian” and had reversed the truck to make sure the victim was really dead. However, a spokesman for the Munich Prosecutor’s Office warned of drawing premature conclusions that Demjanjuk could have been the driver of the truck.
 

 

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WJC and the Legacy of the Holocaust