What was billed as the last great Auschwitz trial when it opened last week has, in week two, triggered an emotional battle among Holocaust survivors over whether they can – or should – forgive their tormentors.
Last week ex-SS man Oskar Gröning (93) went on trial in Lüneburg, accused of being accessory to murder in 300,000 cases. Mr Gröning admits working in the Auschwitz camp, plundering new arrivals’ luggage for money and valuables.
In an opening statement to the court, Mr Gröning accepted he had “moral guilt” for his role in the Holocaust but insists he was a “small cog” in the Nazi killing machine.
Now one of the trial’s 50 co-plaintiffs has fallen out with the others after publicly forgiving Mr Gröning for his role in the crimes against her family.
Auschwitz train
Eva Mozes-Kor and her twin sister Miriam were born in
Romania
in 1934 and, a decade later, were subjected to a 70-hour train journey to Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
There they were separated from their parents and two older sisters, whom they never saw again, and subjected to experiments at the hands of camp doctor Josef Mengele.
On the opening day of the trial last week, Ms Mozes-Kor approached Mr Gröning and shook his hand. He responded with a kiss. Now the 49 other co-plaintiffs have attacked Ms Mozes Kor for staging a “one- woman rehabilitation” show.
“Being a co-plaintiff in the name of the murdered while using this role for public and personal forgiveness – that doesn’t fit together,” they said in a statement. “We cannot forgive Mr Gröning for his participation in the murder of our relatives.”
The Ms Mozes Kor (81) is unrepentant, saying her show of forgiveness is a gesture of respect to Holocaust victims and has given her inner peace.
“Even if every Nazi was hanged for their crimes, my life would be the same,” she said. “But if we give each other the hand as humans – good, bad and indifferent – then something can happen.”
The Gröning trial was an important signal, she said, because an ex-Nazi was taking belated responsibility for his actions. Rather than sending him to prison, she said, Mr Gröning should go to schools and teach young people about his role in a terrible era.
In a swipe at her co-plaintiffs, she said that blame-seeking would push the Holocaust perpetrator-victim vicious circle into the third generation.
“I’m a survivor, not a victim,” she said. “Fostering victimhood doesn’t help victims and society shouldn’t encourage it. We cannot heal victims by continuing victimhood, but by encouraging forgiveness.”
