SOBIBÓR - Holocaust Handbooks

J. GRAF, T. KUES, C. MATTOGNO, SOBIBÓR 31
2.3.6. Adalbert Rückerl (1977)
In 1977 Adalbert Rückerl, long-time head of the German Central
Agency for the prosecution of Nazi crimes at Ludwigsburg, Germany,
published a book entitled NS-Vernichtungslager im Spiegel deutscher
Strafprozesse 36 (NS crimes in the light of German criminal proceedings),
in which he documents the trials in Germany against former
members of the camp personnel at Be��ec, Sobibór, Treblinka and
Che�mno. In chapter 6.4. devoted to the Hagen trial of 1965/66 we will
refer to this book on many occasions. 37
2.3.7. E.A. Cohen (1979)
In 1979 the Dutch Jewish physician Elie A. Cohen, M.D., who had
been interned at Auschwitz and Mauthausen during the war, published a
book in Holland entitled De negentien treinen naar Sobibór 38 (The nineteen
trains to Sobibór). Aside from extensive psychological considerations,
the work gives us a summary of the orthodox version of the fate
of the Jews during the Second World War as well as a résumé of the
official depiction of Sobibór, which Cohen had gathered from the literature
about the camp – extremely sparse at the time – and from the files
of the German trials.
2.3.8. Miriam Novitch (1980)
With a certain Miriam Novitch acting as editor, a collection of accounts
entitled Sobibór. Martyrdom and Revolt 39 appeared in 1980. It
consists of an introduction and of uncommented statements by 25 former
Sobibór detainees. The year in which these statements were recorded
is given only in a few cases. Most of the accounts are surprisingly
brief, and some amount to little more than one or two pages. With its 24
pages, the last account, written by Moshe Bahir, is an exception (pp.
139 – 163). The credibility of this key witness can be judged by the following
passage:
36
Adalbert Rückerl, NS-Vernichtungslager im Spiegel deutscher Strafprozesse, dtv, Frankfurt
a. M. 1977.
37
Cf. section 5.4.
38
Dr. E. A. Cohen, De Negentien Treinen naar Sobibór, B. V. Uitgeversmaatschappij Elsevier
Boekerij, Amsterdam 1979.
39
Miriam Novitch (ed.), Sobibór. Martyrdom and Revolt. Documents and Testimonies, Holocaust
Library, New York 1980.