Former World War II Nazi sentenced in German court

[News_Editor]

Former World War II Nazi sentenced in German court

2011-05-12 20:40:10 GMT+7 (ICT)

MUNICH, GERMANY (BNO NEWS) -- A former Nazi was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday after being found guilty of participating in the murder of 27,900 Jews during World War II, prosecutors said.

John Demjanjuk, 91, originally of Ukraine, was found guilty at the Munich state court in Germany for assisting in the murders of thousands of Jews at the Sobibor death camp in Poland, when the country was occupied by the Nazi regime in 1943, the Deutsche Welle reported.

According to Demjanjuk's defense team, which was denied to seek more evidence at the later stages of the trial, there was no evidence to prove he had worked as one of the SS helpers known as Trawniki guards, arguing that he was among the many Soviet prisoners forced to work for the Nazis.

An SS identity card showing a young Demjanjuk - who was taken as a German prisoner of war in 1942 - was the center piece of the trial, as case worked to determine its authenticity.

Following World War II, Demjanjuk immigrated to the U.S. where he worked as a mechanic until the 1980s when he faced charges at an Israeli court of serving as a guard at the Treblinka death camp. During the trial, he was alleged to have been known as Ivan the Terrible and was later found guilty and sentenced to death.

However, in 1993, the sentence was overturned by Israel's supreme court and was later extradited to Germany in May 2009. Demjanjuk's U.S. citizenship was later stripped due to irregularities in his immigration application. With several delays due to his ill health, Demjanjuk was finally sentenced to five years in prison after an 18-month trial in Germany. His jail time served in the U.S., Israel, and Germany was taken into account.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-05-12

[happyrobert]

Sorry, can't resist.

91, ill health, 60 years later, several trials, extradition, assisted in 1000's of murders in one of the most infamous extermination camps = capture, 18 month trial and sentence.

OBL...well, you know.

[kuffki]

Sorry, can't resist.

91, ill health, 60 years later, several trials, extradition, assisted in 1000's of murders in one of the most infamous extermination camps = capture, 18 month trial and sentence.

OBL...well, you know.

Well at least he will die in a prison cell instead of a hospital or home bed. and instead of having comfort, rather a nightmare, especially at his age.

If you think what he went through was hard, just think of what all those in the camps went through.

I visited one of the camps in Austria 7 years ago and even though its a museum, i still felt the ghosts sort of speak. We had about 45 people on the bus, all young kids in early 20's.

After the visit, the entire bus was silent for about 2 hours, no one said a word, no one talked or really did anything , but just sit and stared into empty space. Scary and worthy experience

[EnSvenskTiger]

One mustnot forget that at that time many governments had approved of the killings of communists,gypsies and Jews so the ordinary citizen at time thought it was ok and legal.

The demonization of these groups was like the demonization today of Muslims and

Arabs. Many today think it’s ok and legal to kill them despite the information

and knowledge available so how would they know at that time?

tttttttttttt

[elcent]

this article forgot to mention that he was released and doesn't have to spend any more time in jail. He was in custody for two years and at the day of sentencing he was realeased on grounds of his age (91 y/o).

In other words, he's a free man now.

[EnSvenskTiger]

Many guilty men are walking free.

ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

[happyrobert]

Sorry, can't resist.

91, ill health, 60 years later, several trials, extradition, assisted in 1000's of murders in one of the most infamous extermination camps = capture, 18 month trial and sentence.

OBL...well, you know.

Well at least he will die in a prison cell instead of a hospital or home bed. and instead of having comfort, rather a nightmare, especially at his age.

If you think what he went through was hard, just think of what all those in the camps went through.

I visited one of the camps in Austria 7 years ago and even though its a museum, i still felt the ghosts sort of speak. We had about 45 people on the bus, all young kids in early 20's.

After the visit, the entire bus was silent for about 2 hours, no one said a word, no one talked or really did anything , but just sit and stared into empty space. Scary and worthy experience

That's not what I meant.

I've been following this case for years and, regardless of outcome, this accused was given every opporturnity to defend himself while each of three countries bore the burden of proof and followed laws to bring him to justice--even though it took 60 years.

Compare that with the execution of OBL.

We had come a long way as a "civililized society" since America was founded, but the slippery slope has been getting trod on by America for a decade or more now, and we are headed in the wrong direction.

[kerryk]

One mustnot forget that at that time many governments had approved of the killings of communists,gypsies and Jews so the ordinary citizen at time thought it was ok and legal.

The demonization of these groups was like the demonization today of Muslims and

Arabs. Many today think it’s ok and legal to kill them despite the information

and knowledge available so how would they know at that time?

tttttttttttt

What countries and ordinary citizens thought it was OK to kill Jews? Did the ordinary citizens of Germany think it was OK to kill Jews? Sweden? Italy?

[geriatrickid]

One mustnot forget that at that time many governments had approved of the killings of communists,gypsies and Jews so the ordinary citizen at time thought it was ok and legal.

The demonization of these groups was like the demonization today of Muslims and Arabs. Many today think it's ok and legal to kill them despite the information and knowledge available so how would they know at that time?

tttttttttttt

Your statement is reprehensible and is a denial of the facts. I suggest you watch the proceedings of the Nuremburg trials. There is no comparison. The convicted killer in this case lied from the day he entered the USA under false pretenses. You have a convenient memory in that you disregard the fact that the defense had claimed that the convicted killer had never been a concentration camp guard. By the time of the German trial, the evidence was so obvious, the defense became one of his being forced into being a camp guard.

There were plenty of Europeans who did not participate in the killings. Despite Poland's past, many poles did something. Even in Germany there were people that resisted. Your inappropriate comments denigrate and defile the lives of those that resisted.

Don't use ThaiVisa as a tool to further your personal agenda. Thank you.

[bangkokeddy]

One mustnot forget that at that time many governments had approved of the killings of communists,gypsies and Jews so the ordinary citizen at time thought it was ok and legal.

The demonization of these groups was like the demonization today of Muslims and Arabs. Many today think it's ok and legal to kill them despite the information and knowledge available so how would they know at that time?

tttttttttttt

Your statement is reprehensible and is a denial of the facts. I suggest you watch the proceedings of the Nuremburg trials. There is no comparison. The convicted killer in this case lied from the day he entered the USA under false pretenses. You have a convenient memory in that you disregard the fact that the defense had claimed that the convicted killer had never been a concentration camp guard. By the time of the German trial, the evidence was so obvious, the defense became one of his being forced into being a camp guard.

There were plenty of Europeans who did not participate in the killings. Despite Poland's past, many poles did something. Even in Germany there were people that resisted. Your inappropriate comments denigrate and defile the lives of those that resisted.

Don't use ThaiVisa as a tool to further your personal agenda. Thank you.

Yeah, antisemitism never exists in Europe and North America. Jewish refugees and the refuse to give asylum for them never happened.

Despite Poland's past, many poles did something. - Despite Poland's past(whatever that means), over 3 million non-jewish polish civilians died in WWII.

Meanwhile in Canada:

http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/readings/CanadaandJewishRefugeesinthe1930s.html

EnSvenskTiger is right. We have to remember this and make sure that it never happen again. No matter what ethnic/cultural/religious group is targeted by the haters.

Genocide denials is one of the worst thing people who want re-write history do.

[Rimmer]

Part of the service document at the center of the trial.

[kuffki]

Antisemitism and cold blooded slaughter of men, women and children are very different things.

I am sure even pre school kids understand that.

One mustnot forget that at that time many governments had approved of the killings of communists,gypsies and Jews so the ordinary citizen at time thought it was ok and legal.

The demonization of these groups was like the demonization today of Muslims and Arabs. Many today think it's ok and legal to kill them despite the information and knowledge available so how would they know at that time?

tttttttttttt

Your statement is reprehensible and is a denial of the facts. I suggest you watch the proceedings of the Nuremburg trials. There is no comparison. The convicted killer in this case lied from the day he entered the USA under false pretenses. You have a convenient memory in that you disregard the fact that the defense had claimed that the convicted killer had never been a concentration camp guard. By the time of the German trial, the evidence was so obvious, the defense became one of his being forced into being a camp guard.

There were plenty of Europeans who did not participate in the killings. Despite Poland's past, many poles did something. Even in Germany there were people that resisted. Your inappropriate comments denigrate and defile the lives of those that resisted.

Don't use ThaiVisa as a tool to further your personal agenda. Thank you.

Yeah, antisemitism never exists in Europe and North America. Jewish refugees and the refuse to give asylum for them never happened.

Despite Poland's past, many poles did something. - Despite Poland's past(whatever that means), over 3 million non-jewish polish civilians died in WWII.

Meanwhile in Canada:

http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/readings/CanadaandJewishRefugeesinthe1930s.html

EnSvenskTiger is right. We have to remember this and make sure that it never happen again. No matter what ethnic/cultural/religious group is targeted by the haters.

Genocide denials is one of the worst thing people who want re-write history do.

[Ulysses G.]

One mustnot forget that at that time many governments had approved of the killings of communists,gypsies and Jews so the ordinary citizen at time thought it was ok and legal.

The demonization of these groups was like the demonization today of Muslims and

Arabs. Many today think it's ok and legal to kill them despite the information

and knowledge available so how would they know at that time?

No other country was shipping Jews, gypsies and homosexuals to extermination camps and no country is doing it to Muslims today. The comparison is totally ridiculous (but what is new).

Read Hitler's Willing Executioners before trying to claim that an awful lot of common citizens did not know exactly what was going on.

Edited May 13, 2011 by Ulysses G.

[Pakboong]

He managed to fair better than the majority of Soviet POWs in German camps.

How is it, the Germans were able to hand over weapons to Ukrainians taken prisoner and trust them to guard the Concentration Camps? It is estimated that over 700,000 surrendered in Kiev in 1941 and most were conscripted into the German Army to be used for the most part, to guard the various camps.

Statistics show that out of 5.7 million Soviet soldiers captured between 1941 and 1945, more than 3.5 million died in captivity.

http://www.historynet.com/soviet-prisoners-of-war-forgotten-nazi-victims-of-world-war-ii.htm

By comparison, 8,348 Western Allied prisoners died in German camps during 1939–45 (3.5% of the 232,000 total).[44] A German POW camp was a relatively safe place to spend the war as long as you were not a Soviet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war

This guy managed to make it 91 years so he got over on the rest of those who surrendered in Kiev in 1941.

Edited May 13, 2011 by Pakboong

[LaoPo]

The German Law system is using two-sided tools to convict WWII criminals....or not.

Demjajuk (born in Ukraine) was finally convicted with a silly low sentence but another war criminal, the Dutch-German Klaas Carel Faber, responsible for at least 22 cold blood murders but wasn't (re)-extradited to Holland because Germany says he's (now) German and Germany doesn't extradite their own citizens.

But he was Dutch when he murdered his fellow Dutchmen..was in Dutch prison and convicted to death in Holland in 1947 but escaped in 1952.

His "nice" brother, Pieter Faber, was executed in 1948 because he was guilty of 27 murders in WWII but Klaas Faber escaped his conviction.

Nice couple of brothers...

So far the present German Law when it somes to convicting their WWII criminals..or not.

LaoPo

Edited May 13, 2011 by LaoPo

[geriatrickid]

LaoPao,, the laws are what they are and there will always be people that are able to evade, but that doesn't mean the individual in this case doesn't merit his conviction. Yes, the Germans screwed up plenty, but the country has made an attempt to address its past and no matter how much it may have stumbled or failed in some cases, overall it has tried. Germany became an advanced economy and society because of its willingness to respond to these issues. If one compares Germany's position in these cases vs. that of Japan, there is a discernible difference. In this specific case, an effort was made and a killer was dealt with.

[geriatrickid]

He managed to fair better than the majority of Soviet POWs in German camps.

How is it, the Germans were able to hand over weapons to Ukrainians taken prisoner and trust them to guard the Concentration Camps? It is estimated that over 700,000 surrendered in Kiev in 1941 and most were conscripted into the German Army to be used for the most part, to guard the various camps.

Statistics show that out of 5.7 million Soviet soldiers captured between 1941 and 1945, more than 3.5 million died in captivity.

http://www.historyne...orld-war-ii.htm

By comparison, 8,348 Western Allied prisoners died in German camps during 1939–45 (3.5% of the 232,000 total).[44] A German POW camp was a relatively safe place to spend the war as long as you were not a Soviet.

http://en.wikipedia....Prisoner_of_war

This guy managed to make it 91 years so he got over on the rest of those who surrendered in Kiev in 1941.

The citations are taken out of context and are indicative of a position of Nazi sympathies. If one looks at the Soviet Union at the time, it was barely able to feed its own people because the Nazi war machine had looted and/or destroyed the agriculture capabilities. It was a scorched earth approach that saw Russians slaughtered on a wholesale basis. It should therefore come as no surprise that the people that had suffered would not be providing 5 star accomodation. The German war prisoners were living in no worse conditions than most of the civilians at the time. Perhaps, if the Germans had not adopted a scorched earth policy, their treatment would have been better as there would have been something left to share. The Germans didn't seem to think Stalin was such a bad guy when they decided to carve up Poland together. The fate of German POWs was engineered in large part by the Germans themselves.

As for the treatment of of allied POWs, again I recommend that one review the Nuremburg trials. The abuses , cruelties and illegalities are documented. The Germans stopped taking prisoners on the Russian front as a policy midway through the war with units such as the SS killing their POWs. Russians were sent to slave labour camps. Do I really need to catalogue the murder of allied POWs following June 6, 1944? The conditions of allied prisoners in their camps were deplorable and violated all the conventions that applied. The Nuremburg trials showed this. Watch the trials with the documented evidence.

[bangkokeddy]

He managed to fair better than the majority of Soviet POWs in German camps.

How is it, the Germans were able to hand over weapons to Ukrainians taken prisoner and trust them to guard the Concentration Camps? It is estimated that over 700,000 surrendered in Kiev in 1941 and most were conscripted into the German Army to be used for the most part, to guard the various camps.

Statistics show that out of 5.7 million Soviet soldiers captured between 1941 and 1945, more than 3.5 million died in captivity.

http://www.historyne...orld-war-ii.htm

By comparison, 8,348 Western Allied prisoners died in German camps during 1939–45 (3.5% of the 232,000 total).[44] A German POW camp was a relatively safe place to spend the war as long as you were not a Soviet.

http://en.wikipedia....Prisoner_of_war

This guy managed to make it 91 years so he got over on the rest of those who surrendered in Kiev in 1941.

The citations are taken out of context and are indicative of a position of Nazi sympathies. If one looks at the Soviet Union at the time, it was barely able to feed its own people because the Nazi war machine had looted and/or destroyed the agriculture capabilities. It was a scorched earth approach that saw Russians slaughtered on a wholesale basis. It should therefore come as no surprise that the people that had suffered would not be providing 5 star accomodation. The German war prisoners were living in no worse conditions than most of the civilians at the time. Perhaps, if the Germans had not adopted a scorched earth policy, their treatment would have been better as there would have been something left to share. The Germans didn't seem to think Stalin was such a bad guy when they decided to carve up Poland together. The fate of German POWs was engineered in large part by the Germans themselves.

As for the treatment of of allied POWs, again I recommend that one review the Nuremburg trials. The abuses , cruelties and illegalities are documented. The Germans stopped taking prisoners on the Russian front as a policy midway through the war with units such as the SS killing their POWs. Russians were sent to slave labour camps. Do I really need to catalogue the murder of allied POWs following June 6, 1944? The conditions of allied prisoners in their camps were deplorable and violated all the conventions that applied. The Nuremburg trials showed this. Watch the trials with the documented evidence.

Where is there something taken out of context?

He doesn't talk about German POWs in Russian prison camps, but Russian POWs vs. Western Allies POWs in German prison camps.

And he ask the question how it comes that Ukrainians, like the one in the OP, collaborated with the German occupiers and that the Germans trusted the Ukrainians.

[trompelemonde]

He managed to fair better than the majority of Soviet POWs in German camps.

How is it, the Germans were able to hand over weapons to Ukrainians taken prisoner and trust them to guard the Concentration Camps? It is estimated that over 700,000 surrendered in Kiev in 1941 and most were conscripted into the German Army to be used for the most part, to guard the various camps.

Statistics show that out of 5.7 million Soviet soldiers captured between 1941 and 1945, more than 3.5 million died in captivity.

http://www.historyne...orld-war-ii.htm

By comparison, 8,348 Western Allied prisoners died in German camps during 1939–45 (3.5% of the 232,000 total).[44] A German POW camp was a relatively safe place to spend the war as long as you were not a Soviet.

http://en.wikipedia....Prisoner_of_war

This guy managed to make it 91 years so he got over on the rest of those who surrendered in Kiev in 1941.

The citations are taken out of context and are indicative of a position of Nazi sympathies. If one looks at the Soviet Union at the time, it was barely able to feed its own people because the Nazi war machine had looted and/or destroyed the agriculture capabilities. It was a scorched earth approach that saw Russians slaughtered on a wholesale basis. It should therefore come as no surprise that the people that had suffered would not be providing 5 star accomodation. The German war prisoners were living in no worse conditions than most of the civilians at the time. Perhaps, if the Germans had not adopted a scorched earth policy, their treatment would have been better as there would have been something left to share. The Germans didn't seem to think Stalin was such a bad guy when they decided to carve up Poland together. The fate of German POWs was engineered in large part by the Germans themselves.

As for the treatment of of allied POWs, again I recommend that one review the Nuremburg trials. The abuses , cruelties and illegalities are documented. The Germans stopped taking prisoners on the Russian front as a policy midway through the war with units such as the SS killing their POWs. Russians were sent to slave labour camps. Do I really need to catalogue the murder of allied POWs following June 6, 1944? The conditions of allied prisoners in their camps were deplorable and violated all the conventions that applied. The Nuremburg trials showed this. Watch the trials with the documented evidence.

Where is there something taken out of context?

He doesn't talk about German POWs in Russian prison camps, but Russian POWs vs. Western Allies POWs in German prison camps.

And he ask the question how it comes that Ukrainians, like the one in the OP, collaborated with the German occupiers and that the Germans trusted the Ukrainians.

Many Ukranians of the time wanted independence from Russia and thus welcomed the invading Germans and willingly assisted them.

[Pakboong]

He managed to fair better than the majority of Soviet POWs in German camps.

How is it, the Germans were able to hand over weapons to Ukrainians taken prisoner and trust them to guard the Concentration Camps? It is estimated that over 700,000 surrendered in Kiev in 1941 and most were conscripted into the German Army to be used for the most part, to guard the various camps.

Statistics show that out of 5.7 million Soviet soldiers captured between 1941 and 1945, more than 3.5 million died in captivity.

http://www.historyne...orld-war-ii.htm

By comparison, 8,348 Western Allied prisoners died in German camps during 1939–45 (3.5% of the 232,000 total).[44] A German POW camp was a relatively safe place to spend the war as long as you were not a Soviet.

http://en.wikipedia....Prisoner_of_war

This guy managed to make it 91 years so he got over on the rest of those who surrendered in Kiev in 1941.

The citations are taken out of context and are indicative of a position of Nazi sympathies. If one looks at the Soviet Union at the time, it was barely able to feed its own people because the Nazi war machine had looted and/or destroyed the agriculture capabilities. It was a scorched earth approach that saw Russians slaughtered on a wholesale basis. It should therefore come as no surprise that the people that had suffered would not be providing 5 star accomodation. The German war prisoners were living in no worse conditions than most of the civilians at the time. Perhaps, if the Germans had not adopted a scorched earth policy, their treatment would have been better as there would have been something left to share. The Germans didn't seem to think Stalin was such a bad guy when they decided to carve up Poland together. The fate of German POWs was engineered in large part by the Germans themselves.

As for the treatment of of allied POWs, again I recommend that one review the Nuremburg trials. The abuses , cruelties and illegalities are documented. The Germans stopped taking prisoners on the Russian front as a policy midway through the war with units such as the SS killing their POWs. Russians were sent to slave labour camps. Do I really need to catalogue the murder of allied POWs following June 6, 1944? The conditions of allied prisoners in their camps were deplorable and violated all the conventions that applied. The Nuremburg trials showed this. Watch the trials with the documented evidence.

Where is there something taken out of context?

He doesn't talk about German POWs in Russian prison camps, but Russian POWs vs. Western Allies POWs in German prison camps.

And he ask the question how it comes that Ukrainians, like the one in the OP, collaborated with the German occupiers and that the Germans trusted the Ukrainians.

Many Ukranians of the time wanted independence from Russia and thus welcomed the invading Germans and willingly assisted them.

I think the key to the Ukrainian willingness to guard concentration camps and even the ill treatment they imposed on the Soviets and the Jews was based largely on the Soviet imposed famine of 1931/32. It was obviously a better choice to be a guard for the Nazis than to be sent to a POW camp where the Soviet mortality rate was over 50% but they had a deeper hatred. Their rounding up of Kiev Jews and marching them to Babi Yar to be executed was rooted in who they held responsible for the over one million Ukrainians who died in the famine.

Apparently, the Nazis were aware of the Ukrainian grudge against the Soviets and the Jews, otherwise, I can't imagine permitting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian who they had taken prisoner, to do the guarding of all camps. A typical camp would have a small cadre of SS and the guards were pretty much all Ukrainian.

Edited May 14, 2011 by Pakboong

[geriatrickid]

The jews were not responsible for the Stalin era famine.

There were Ukranians that fought the nazis. Most of the strongest resistance in occupied countries on the eastern front was mounted by communists.

[Pakboong]

The jews were not responsible for the Stalin era famine.

There were Ukranians that fought the nazis. Most of the strongest resistance in occupied countries on the eastern front was mounted by communists.

Unfortunately, perception is reality and the Ukranian peasants believed the Jews were responsible largely due to:

Lazar Kaganovitch

Stalin called him "my Himmler." Kaganovitch personally supervised the murder of 6-7 million Ukrainian peasants in the mid-1930s - a decade before Hitler's crimes against humanity - and went on to organize the mass murder of two million Muslims in the Caucasus and deportation of another two million to Siberia.

"Stalin's policy with respect to Ukraine boiled down to a gigantic attempt to break down the resistance of the Ukrainian people by means of physical violence..

The Georgian Stalin, the Jew Kaganovich, the Russian Molotov, or the Pole Kosior - none of these individuals place any burden of guilt on their respective nations. The infernal political regime created by Lenin was international in nature. estruction of tiny Chechnya

[Exsexyman]

Many guilty men are walking free.

ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

The Vatican's hands are far from clean on this subject. Many of the very worst nazi war criminals were given assistance to help them evade capture at the end of the war. Some even escaped to South America on vatican issued false passports.

[LaoPo]

Many guilty men are walking free.

ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

The Vatican's hands are far from clean on this subject. Many of the very worst nazi war criminals were given assistance to help them evade capture at the end of the war. Some even escaped to South America on vatican issued false passports.

Correct, and if you had the brains you were even helped to "escape" to the US and Russia like so many scientists who normally would have been taken to court in Nürnberg after WWII for their role in developing weapons, rockets and other dangerous stuff, used against the liberators and killing millions of people.....

There are so many dirty hands in any war that it's difficult to decide after a war WHO was to blame; look at Mubarak who was always protected by the West since he was he stabilizing factor in the Middle East and now he's in jail, including his wife and sons.

The world is hypocrite and opportunistic and ready to condemn others when the opportunity knocks on their door when a fellow friend/criminal is no longer needed.

LaoPo

[JUDAS]

You're last paragraph is a fairly good description of international politics LaoPo.

[Exsexyman]

Many guilty men are walking free.

ttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt

The Vatican's hands are far from clean on this subject. Many of the very worst nazi war criminals were given assistance to help them evade capture at the end of the war. Some even escaped to South America on vatican issued false passports.

Correct, and if you had the brains you were even helped to "escape" to the US and Russia like so many scientists who normally would have been taken to court in Nürnberg after WWII for their role in developing weapons, rockets and other dangerous stuff, used against the liberators and killing millions of people.....

There are so many dirty hands in any war that it's difficult to decide after a war WHO was to blame; look at Mubarak who was always protected by the West since he was he stabilizing factor in the Middle East and now he's in jail, including his wife and sons.

The world is hypocrite and opportunistic and ready to condemn others when the opportunity knocks on their door when a fellow friend/criminal is no longer needed.

LaoPo

You are certainly correct about that. Nazi scientists were instrumental in the success of the Russian and American space programs. Probably would never have put a man on the moon without their expertise. One of the reasons why it is difficult to know the truth about who did what in war, is that the history is written by the winners. The first AND last casualty of war is the truth.