BELSEN TRIAL

Grey River Argus, 21 September 1945, Page 6

BELSEN TRIAL

EXAMPLE FOR FOREIGNERS OF BRITISH LEGAL METHOD LONDON, Sept. 19. A Reuter correspondent stated that at the trial in Lunburg of Bolsen camp guards, on Wednesday, Brigadier Hughes was re-examined by the prosecution on*the conditions at Belsen. He said ’it was inevitable that people receiving camp food, which was under SOO calories, eventually died. Internees, even after their release, were obviously frightened to answer questions in the presence of members of the S.S. Klein told witness he had only been there two days. Witness appealed to internees around him, but they would not answer. When Klein’s back was turned, the internees refuted Klein’s statement. Hughes said he had no serious difficulty in controlling internees when they were freed. There was not a single casualty from British bullets. Colonel James Johnson, R.A.M.C. who entered Belsen on April 17, in an affidavit described the conditions as “atrocious, horrible and inhuman.” He stated 13,099 died after the British entry, the majority in a matter of days. He did' not know the total of the deaths before the British arrived because the Germans destroyed the records. A very large percentage of those who survived would be permanently injured in mental and physical health. Tuberculosis would be rife.

Reuter’s correspondent says: Foreign observers receiving their first opportunity to see the working of British justice, believe that the trial will stand as an example of meticulous legal correctness. They did not know whether authorities would conduct the trial as politicians or jurists. They are now deeply impressed by the length of time devoted to argument on questions of procedure raised by counsel for the defence. Germans lining the streets of Luneburg as the accused were driven from the court to prison hissed and booed Kramer, and an elderly woman shouted “Schweinhund.” It was the first open demonstration of German public disgust since the beginning of the trial. DUTCH DEATH SENTENCE ANTWERP, Sept. 19. A special tribunal sentenced to death for treason, Jan Timmermans, whom the Germans installed as Burgomaster of Antwerp. Timmermans, who was one the leaders of the German-sponsored Flemish Nationalist movement, was chiefly accused of recruiting Flemings to fight for the Germans against Russia.