Our family had tried so hard to stay together. My sister Edith, who was about 12 years old
was sent in the direction that my mother went. The SS guard
he motioned me to go in the direction that other young adults went.
I didn't move.
I leaned over peering into the crowd and trying to see if Edith had caught up.
I was horrified that she would not find our mother.
She would be lost to our family alone among strangers.
The trauma of this separation
lingers with me to this day.
It's not a matter of
sending him to jail for the rest of his life
I don't feel that that will help, but what's happening now will help
and today I must do what I'm asked to do and not
stop and cry because that is not what's required at the moment.
It's a teaching moment for the entire
Country of Europe to rethink and learn from it
The lawyers were searching for people, survivors.
They asked where I come and
do I know anything about this Nazi guard and of course no
I was much too distracted to look into his face, but I was not required to have remembered a face
So I said yes. If I can help, I would come
So far over the last
seven decades
the prosecutors
Just focused on the murder of the people who arrived in Auschwitz on the ramp and then were gassed right away
No prosecutor every brought forward a charge saying that a guard is also responsible
for making it possible that the people who were prisoners in the camp were murdered systematically
and the indictment against Hanning is the first indictment that actually says Auschwitz
was altogether
a organized factory of mass murder
not only the selection on the ramp
and this is, um, I am here right here in
Standing here. As I said in the testimony. I had just been separated from my younger sister
and as I was saying, I I didn't leave I actually
Defied orders. I just stood there. How am I to leave her like this, you know people tell me you know, she died
You know everybody died and it's been a long time and it doesn't help
Justice comes too late and justice is too little and is a
Enormous failure but if a system in the end does the right thing it's better than I'm not doing it
I think the main purpose of these trials is to give justice to our clients for them. I just want him to
hear from the me and others who testified
What the consequences were of what he did and a young age?
But he keeps his eyes down and his head down. I don't know whether he doesn't want to face
The survivors or what his motivation is I really don't know
There's a lot of talk of forgiveness
I'm very surprised about it. Everybody has to do their part or it wouldn't have worked efficiently
How does mass murder get forgiven?
The crime is so enormous it's not a forgivable crime. It's a crime to be analyzed and learn from