Chapter 13
In: Sights, Sounds, and Sensibilities of Atrocity Prosecutions
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Abstract
In February 1985, a mock trial was conducted in Jerusalem. The ‘accused’ was SS officer Dr. Josef Mengele. Despite his absence, along with that of his defense attorneys, in other respects this mock trial resembled a regular criminal trial. Seven judges presided over the proceedings, some of whom were jurists. Thirty survivors were questioned on a witness stand; prosecution exhibits were submitted; and a verdict was rendered at the end. The official goal of the trial was to provide evidentiary material that would later serve as proof of Mengele’s crimes if and when he would be brought before a real criminal tribunal. While the proceedings focused on the defendant and the crimes he committed, as it turned out, the surviving witnesses and their personal stories took center stage. The survivors were not only witnesses for the prosecution, but also active partners in the trial. The proceedings were therefore about achieving justice for the victims of the crimes more than serving justice upon the defendant himself. In this sense, the Mengele mock trial demonstrates that the purpose of the testimonies of victims of atrocity crimes and mass violence is not limited to establishing an evidentiary foundation capable of convicting defendants and punishing them for the crimes they committed. An independent and equally important purpose is to provide a voice and platform to the victims’ stories. Nevertheless, the fading of this trial from public memory also illustrates the differences between criminal and other forms of proceedings for the purposes of documenting, commemorating, and shaping the collective memory of the Holocaust.