On The Other Hand

While I agree that the Demjanjuk case and those of all the accomplices in Nazi atrocities certainly deserve to face justice, I question whether a trial of a man so old and so infirm can achieve anything even approximating justice.  If anything, the spectacle of trying a man who is so ill and frail, and suffering from dementia to boot, is likely to generate more sympathy for this criminal than it will a sense that justice has finaly been done.  I think the time has come to relegate these cases to the court of historical analysis and recognize that any trials of defendants so old and feeble minded will look more like Stalinist show trials than a real attempt to see that justice is done.  That is particularly true in this case, because the US and Israel so badly botched the “Ivan the Terrible” case—this will look like nothing more than sour grapes piling on against an “innocent” man.

Neil… good item… I was so happy to read recently that Demjanjuk was finally deported. In fact I thought he had already been kicked out… not that it’s the justice he deserved, but at least he cannot go on living here. and he will perhaps face some justice in Germany…