Dutch co-prosecutors attend the Demjanjuk trial in Munich
The co-plaintiffs [Nebenkläger] in the trial of John (Iwan) Demjanjuk are people whose immediate family members (parents, siblings, spouses) were executed in Sobibor between 28 March and 1 October 1943, the extermination camp where Demjanjuk worked as a Trawniki-trained guard [Wachmann]. A number of these individuals are responding to a request from the German justice department, while others spontaneously indicated that they wished to be involved.
Legally speaking, only the immediate family members of homicide victims can be co-plaintiffs. Morally speaking, the Dutch co-plaintiffs are appearing on behalf of all those exterminated during the period in which Demjanjuk was in Sobibor. One example is the case of the transports of children [kindertransporten] from Vught, during which entire families, none of whom are still living, were also deported.
More than 170,000 Jews were exterminated in Sobibor. Of the Jews deported from the Netherlands, 34,313 were sent to Sobibor, approximately 33,000 of which were victims of the gas chambers. Their names are known only because they were put on transport lists that were kept.
Because their names are known, a group of 23 Dutch co-plaintiffs could be established. At least one co-plaintiff will come from Germany, while at least two will come from Poland. It is currently unknown whether someone will be permitted to speak on behalf of the more than 130,000 Jews from Poland, the former Soviet Union, France, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the former Yugoslavia who anonymously perished in Sobibor.
The Dutch survivors will testify on behalf of their murdered family members, but will also symbolically represent all those who were gassed in Sobibor.