Outraged
July 28th 2010 18:51
On May 21, 1960, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi responsible for the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Jews and other “undesirables” from Nazi occupied territories during World War II, was abducted from Buenos Aires, Argentina, and flown by way of Dakar, Senegal, to Israel.
On April 11, 1961, Eichmann, after being indicted for fifteen crimes, was put on trial in Jerusalem. Chief among the crimes were crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership in an outlawed organization. It was brought out during the trial, from testimony that Hermann Göring gave during the Nuremberg Trials, “that Eichmann was the man to determine, in what order, in what countries, the Jews were to die.” (“Adolf Eichmann, Wikipedia, “Trial”). Eichmann was convicted of his crimes, and he appealed his conviction even though he admitted his guilt; his defense was that he was only carrying out orders. High echelon Nazi officers and officials living in Germany and Austria gave depositions disputing this argument, and his appeal was denied. Eichmann was hanged on May 31, 1962, in what is the only civil execution ever carried out by Israel.
Today, the Associated Press reported that a former German prison camp guard, Samuel Kunz, is being charged with participating in the murder of 430,000 Jews at the Belzac concentration camp in Nazi occupied Poland, from January 1942 through July 1943. He is also being charged with personally shooting and killing 10 Jews. This investigation and prosecution is being carried out by German prosecutors in Germany (“Nazi suspect indicted in Germany,” Kirsten Grieshaber, Associated Press,7/28/10).
Kaing Guek Eav, “Duch (pronounced Doik),” was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the deaths of at least 16,000 Cambodians during the regime of Pol Pot and the rule of the Khmer Rouge during the period 1975-1979, when an estimated 1.7 million people were murdered. Duch was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role as head of Tuol Sleng, the state detention center where those who were declared the worst enemies of the state were subjected to tortures, including electric shocks, pulling out prisoner’s toenails, medical experiments and water boarding to force them into signing confessions against the state before they were executed. He was also ordered to publish the court’s judgment, instead of building a monument to the murdered and tortured victims.
The United Nations backed tribunal declared that it had to take into account the historical context of what happened and that the Khmer Rouge regime was a product of the Cold War when it passed sentence on Duch. However, what has enraged the survivors of those times is that the court reduced Duch’s sentence by 16 years for time already served and time served during illegal detention in a military prison. This means that he will only have to serve slightly less than 19 years for the murder of 16,000 people, or about 10 hours per person. Even though he admits his actions, Duch is appealing his conviction.
The most important difference between the Duch trial and the Eichmann trial is that Eichmann was tried in a country that was made up of his victims and the relatives of his victims, but not where the crimes took place. Duch was tried where the crimes took place, and the trial was allowed by the rulers of the country, who are themselves Khmer Rouge thugs. They allowed the trial to deflect interest in their own role during the time of the “Killing Fields,” and they did not push the tribunal for a stiffer sentence because they were fearful of the disclosure of their own guilt.
So, since when does the murder of 1.7 million people not constitute a holocaust? Because it’s not 6 million? Because they’re Asians and not Jews? Why isn’t anyone, besides the Cambodians who lost relatives to the “Killing Fields” and the New Zealander, Rob Hamill, whose brother Kerry was killed by the Khmer Rouge, outraged and insensed by Duch’s relatively light sentence and his appeal? Why hasn’t Israel or the United States condemned the verdict?
On April 11, 1961, Eichmann, after being indicted for fifteen crimes, was put on trial in Jerusalem. Chief among the crimes were crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership in an outlawed organization. It was brought out during the trial, from testimony that Hermann Göring gave during the Nuremberg Trials, “that Eichmann was the man to determine, in what order, in what countries, the Jews were to die.” (“Adolf Eichmann, Wikipedia, “Trial”). Eichmann was convicted of his crimes, and he appealed his conviction even though he admitted his guilt; his defense was that he was only carrying out orders. High echelon Nazi officers and officials living in Germany and Austria gave depositions disputing this argument, and his appeal was denied. Eichmann was hanged on May 31, 1962, in what is the only civil execution ever carried out by Israel.
Today, the Associated Press reported that a former German prison camp guard, Samuel Kunz, is being charged with participating in the murder of 430,000 Jews at the Belzac concentration camp in Nazi occupied Poland, from January 1942 through July 1943. He is also being charged with personally shooting and killing 10 Jews. This investigation and prosecution is being carried out by German prosecutors in Germany (“Nazi suspect indicted in Germany,” Kirsten Grieshaber, Associated Press,7/28/10).
Kaing Guek Eav, “Duch (pronounced Doik),” was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the deaths of at least 16,000 Cambodians during the regime of Pol Pot and the rule of the Khmer Rouge during the period 1975-1979, when an estimated 1.7 million people were murdered. Duch was sentenced to 35 years in prison for his role as head of Tuol Sleng, the state detention center where those who were declared the worst enemies of the state were subjected to tortures, including electric shocks, pulling out prisoner’s toenails, medical experiments and water boarding to force them into signing confessions against the state before they were executed. He was also ordered to publish the court’s judgment, instead of building a monument to the murdered and tortured victims.
The United Nations backed tribunal declared that it had to take into account the historical context of what happened and that the Khmer Rouge regime was a product of the Cold War when it passed sentence on Duch. However, what has enraged the survivors of those times is that the court reduced Duch’s sentence by 16 years for time already served and time served during illegal detention in a military prison. This means that he will only have to serve slightly less than 19 years for the murder of 16,000 people, or about 10 hours per person. Even though he admits his actions, Duch is appealing his conviction.
The most important difference between the Duch trial and the Eichmann trial is that Eichmann was tried in a country that was made up of his victims and the relatives of his victims, but not where the crimes took place. Duch was tried where the crimes took place, and the trial was allowed by the rulers of the country, who are themselves Khmer Rouge thugs. They allowed the trial to deflect interest in their own role during the time of the “Killing Fields,” and they did not push the tribunal for a stiffer sentence because they were fearful of the disclosure of their own guilt.
So, since when does the murder of 1.7 million people not constitute a holocaust? Because it’s not 6 million? Because they’re Asians and not Jews? Why isn’t anyone, besides the Cambodians who lost relatives to the “Killing Fields” and the New Zealander, Rob Hamill, whose brother Kerry was killed by the Khmer Rouge, outraged and insensed by Duch’s relatively light sentence and his appeal? Why hasn’t Israel or the United States condemned the verdict?
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