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The Plea, by
Rudolf Salomon Cortissos Case of John
Demjanjuk, the notorious Nazi concentration guard Unfortunately, the world does not
change. The Inquisition in the Iberian Peninsula, the pogroms in the former
Eastern European countries, the contemporary Holocaust denial and
anti-Semitism still prevalent everywhere. But the Shoah puts this head and
shoulders above all the rest. Six million Jews were gassed, shot, buried
alive in quicklime, they were betrayed, froze to death, starved, neutered or
spayed, subjected to deadly experiments or they were tortured, humiliated and
dishonourably buried. That was in 1940-1945. Today we are faced with Darfur, Rwanda,
Srebrenica and prisons where degrading conditions prevail. Apparently man
still cannot behave. I'm actually not happy to be here.
It's like a dream, something completely unreal. More than 67 years ago, on
May 21, 1943, my mother was murdered in Sobibor, and I, her son who never
knew her, have the opportunity to speak with those present in the courtroom
at Munich. After being betrayed by a member of the NSB (The National
Socialist Movement in the Netherlands) my mother was arrested while
travelling on a tram. She was sent to the Westerbork transit camp in
Amsterdam on May 11, 1943. On May 18, 1943 my mother was taken from
Westerbork transit camp and forced onto a cattle train. The train departed in
an easterly direction. During her journey she managed to write a letter and
throw it off the train. Now I can feel close and personal with
the names of the many dead, murdered and living, show the world that the
effects of the Holocaust still play a major role almost daily. This applies
not only to me, but also to very many people in the same situation around the
world. Who I am? Born 1939 in Amsterdam, Holland, I was from late 1941 to the
end of the war completely alone, having to hide under a false name, when like
a package I was given away to strangers. My mother never saw me. Imagine what
that means for a child and the parents?
Within me, my Portuguese-Jewish descent died with the fate of my
mother and 63 other members of the family who perished in the gas chambers of
Auschwitz and Sobibor. I actually feel that I am representing all the 4,500
Portuguese Ashkenazi Jews and other 97,500 killed. Eventually there is no
distinction. As mentioned, it plays almost a daily
part in my life, a life that has fortunately developed well. But imagine what
it means to be without parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and no
expanding family. Please be aware and consider the following: Normally we can go to the toilet when
the need be, instead of having to travel eastward on a cattle train to share
a bucket with 100 complete strangers. To breathe fresh air instead of
suffering the stifling foul air that my mother with her asthmatic breathing
problems had to endure for three days on route to Poland. To enjoy a meal at home or in a
restaurant, other than being denied any food or drink and left to starve. To be able to sleep only when you are
tired, other than being beaten into submission with a whip and forced naked
into a gas chamber - Take a shower with a multitude of other naked people,
crowded together, to choke instead of bath. Please align your thoughts according to my
experiences and try to perceive and understand my way of thinking: A warming fire with a hearth, against
an incinerator where people were burned. A visit to the hairdresser when we
like, but my mother and her sister were forced shaved at Sobibor. An evening at a concert to hear the music
of your choice versus the music that was controlled by Nazi officers at the
train station played by doomed Jewish musicians in order to keep the
prisoners calm. A visit to the dentist for
professional treatment versus the extraction of gold teeth from the mouths of
the deceased said six million. Yes, these comparisons are graphic and
terrible. I often discuss this subject with
friends, there is much writing to be read in the public domain. In the media
around the world, there is always images and films on the Holocaust being
broadcast on television shows and in cinema. And how many books based on this
theme have been written and are being read? But I am frequently plagued and
confronted with these thoughts, not every day but at least several times a
week. How is it possible that people have evolved themselves in this way and
who are now subjected with these thoughts and memories for the rest of their
lives? The world needs to know what role a
man like Demjanjuk had played during the war. It will never be over and this
man will never escape punishment if guilty. We cannot and must not forget. We
must make our contributions to describing the true facts about the horrors of
the Holocaust, so that nothing ever as terrible as this never occurs again. Rudie Cortissos, Amsterdam Case of John Demjanjuk. Click on link for details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible_%28Treblinka_guard%29 |