A jury of judges, prosecutors and defenders who arrived from Germany and headed by the Israeli judge Dr. Beniski, heard testimony for 3 days at the court of Tel Aviv. The testimony was given by Mrs. Ada Lichtmann who survived after the revolt and who had refused to go to Germany in order to testify at the trial of the executioners of Sobibor. Her testimony led to a loud and stubborn victory of the prosecution over the defense. The more she continued in her descriptions of the hell she had experienced the more appeased the noise of the prosecutors and their questions and comments stopped and they lowered their heads.

      In the eyes of the Jewish judge, who himself had tasted the camps of Hitler, stood tears and his voice hardly found its way through throat.

Obviously not impartial but then this is Israel.

      "Don't ask me for exact dates", said Mrs. Lichtmann to the provoking and torturing questions of the lawyers. "At that time no calender existed but on the other hand I remember the events of those days which I am describing because they will remain deeply rooted in my memory throughout my life."

It appears that unlike the war crimes trials, the defense was permitted a meaningful crossexamination, although it is not clear from which side the questions are coming.

      The awful depressed the mood and atmosphere of the courtroom. Horror accompanied the route from Krakow from where the Germans had openly exiled her, through Miliz, Dubinki, Charaschow, and other places on the bloody road to Sobibor. Physical and mental pains, blows and humiliations. Her husband Mark Weismann was killed with stones during the work in the camp Postak.

"Stone him. Stone him."

"Jehovah! Jehovah!"

Stoned? How biblical. However this does stand as the only report of death by stoning to come from the witnesses. It is a nice touch.

      The strikes and blows of the SS-men and Ukrainians while passing the "Spalier" (their lines) before the entrance of the concentration points.

      Already at the beginning of her simple words the lips whispered automatically: "Is this possible?" From where did this woman with her delicate face and blue eyes, take the strength to endure these tortures? From where did she have the strength to tell again of her suffering?

As we find later she was in charge of something at the camp. Those in charge of something commonly misused their position for power. Although this person is not named as one of them, it was common and can be an answer to the question. That answer being, she was making a victim of herself to avoid her own prosecution.

Devilish laughter. Melodrama testified to in court. The evil always laugh as devilishly as only evil can laugh. Ming the Merciless did it too. The bad guys in all the B movies do it. Why should not these "devils" do it?

Is any adult to take this seriously? Of course not. Only holohuggers believe this sort of crap.

      She recalls events of Jews struck and shot on Dobinko. In Dobinko the Jews were loaded on wagon trains that went to Charabishow.

Note in the above translations is poor. "Wagon trains" are not from the American Wild West. The term should more correctly be "truck convoys." Wagen is the term of both car and truck.

      Planes flew over the train shooting with machine guns into the wagons. They lowered the planes so that we could see the faces of pilots.

And the pilots were also shooting at the drivers and the trucks themselves. This is rather strange behavior.

We will note later a description of the trucks as being covered. The more correct translation is likely closed as merely "covering" a truck bed would permit escapes whereas the doors of a closed truck could be locked.

So the second thing we notice after the pilots attacking their own people is that they were low enough to see the faces of the pilots from inside these closed (or even covered) trucks. Those of you who have seen WW II pictures of strafing runs will remember that the planes have to dive on the target and then pull up. You will also remember that such planes line up behind their targets and fire as they close on the targets. These are essential characteristics of a strafing run.

Next we note that these planes are fighters giving them a minimum speed of flight on the order of 100 miles per hour. But since they are diving to for the strafing run they are going significantly faster. And in noting they have to pull out of the dive the lowest safe pullout altitude would be about 100 feet at the lowest point where it would be level to the ground.

Next we note the experience of pilots. In the days of open cockpits in WW I in the two seated planes the people had to use hand signals to communicate, the engine noise was too loud. In both world wars pilots had to constantly scan the skies all around them as they could not hear the sound of enemy planes. Even today in two seat fighters, they use headphones and microphones to talk. All of this because the engine noise is too loud.

But with all the above we have a woman expected her claim that the faces were seen from inside a closed truck, at an altitude of at least a hundred feet, from an angle where the nose of the plane would block the view, while passing overhead where the body of the plane would block the view at a speed of at least 100 miles per hour, to be accepted as credible.

This kind of stuff is too impossible to put even in a B movie. But this is a story under oath that is supposedly being believed by experienced attorneys and a judge. Is it any wonder writers about the holocaust have to ignore or quote only very selectively from testimony like this?

      And when they stopped the shooting for a while we heard them laughing. The devilish laughter deafened the screaming of those dying.

As if seeing the faces were not ridiculous enough, the evil one's must laugh, and not just laughter, the devilish laughter the truly befits the evil.

This devilish laughter is heard from pilots at least 100 feet in the air over the noise of the engine that is driving a plane at least 100 mph. Not only is it heard from that distance which is no mean feat in itself but over the engine noise from inside a closed cockpit with the body of the plane blocking the sound in addition to the view but it is so loud that it is heard over the normal truck noises and the screams of the dying.

And we are supposed to believe the attorneys are believing this when it is difficult to see how anyone over the age of ten could take one word of it seriously. It is clearly a complete fabrication from the bottom up.

If a person perjures herself in one part of her testimony then all of her testimony is to be rejected.

If she had kept the story simple, saying that planes fired on the trucks then there would not be enough details to judge the validity of the story. But in the details the story is exposed as false. That questions the other parts of the story that are kept simple, such as the stoning and shooting.

Perhaps this person is simply telling the story in the eastern european style but that requires that western europeans not for one moment to consider any of this story as literal truth. All that is does is relieve her of the charge of perjury.

      On the way somewhere near to Dubinko, they were taken out of the wagons and the men and women were forced to strip off their clothes and to begin dancing. The voice of Mrs. Lichtmann breaks off.

Ah, yes, dancing. Dancing to the devil's tune no doubt. Very efficient these Nazis.

Here we have a classic feature of witchcraft, naked dancing. And these people are devils are they not? It fits the mode of a story about the devil. The devil makes them dance, right out of Night on Bald Mountain.

This is a feature common to many of these stories, being forced to strip and dance. Sometimes an orchestra is organized and the music of someone like Wagner is played but if the music is named it is classical music by a German composer, never a polka. How does one dance to Wagner? Have you ever tried to tip-toe through the Niebelungen?

There might be some credibility to the music stories if they played folk songs or popular music. But if the style of music is mentioned (a false detail thrown in) it is never music suitable for dancing. Thus again, if the stories are detailed enough they make themselves incredible rather than adding corroborating detail as would be expected.

Also note here that this woman testifying to exactly what happens at no time mentions any children any place in this story. Perhaps this is the way it was but then we would have to have records of orphans appearing in eastern europe at thousands per day for years. On the other hand it is difficult to believe that a woman would not mention children if they were present.

      Her face reflects her feeling of tortures and inability to tell all. Her words shiver and only an echo is heard of those awful days which had become from day to day more terrible.

Rather if there is anything this woman has suffered it is a terrifying trip into an alternate reality where things like this are in fact possible. If what she has described so far were possible in that reality many even more frightening things must have been possible.

At best she did not live a nightmare, she dreamt a nightmare.

      They were kept on the ground only one day. It was fenced in with barbed wire and again they were loaded on the wagons, like cattle from the slaughter and brought to Sobibor. Usually the journey from Charobichow took several hours. But then it extended to eternity and no one, neither Mrs. Lichtmann nor someone else from the survivors, remembers how long they travelled in the closed wagons.

So who could remember how long they traveled in closed wagons when they could remember the faces of the pilots from inside the closed wagons?

      Nevertheless, the journey lasted for a few days and the German soldiers were amused by their victims. There on the station before Sobibor the Ukrainians broke into the wagons and plundered jewelry and those who did not succeed to take of the ring of their finger in time, had the ring taken off together with the finger... "You don't need either the finger nor the ring any more" the wild Ukrainians consoled their victims! "Soon you will be broiled and soap will be made from you."

Certainly fingers were just pulled off. Tell me the truth. This was written by Stephen King, right?

The Germans are amused by their victims, what the amusement might be is unclear as they were inside closed vehicles. But they were paying so little attention that Ukranians had snuck into Poland and were permitted to break in trucks and take valuables. The valuables that could have gone to the German guards or taken at Sobibor were taken by "wild" Ukranians.

And during this breakin not one of the prisoners thought to take the opportunity to escape. Or did the wild Ukranians lock the doors while they were inside?

      The Polish farmers also waited in front of the entrance to Sobibor and shouted at the Jews in the transports. "Throw us your money, anyway it will not redeem you from death, you are going to the gas chamber."

But it was a secret and the farmers could not know about it. You will note later on that escapees had to get out the word that Polish farmers knew all about.

It was also a secret and not a secret but the wild Ukranians knew all about it.

It is also an interesting speech. Maybe it translates to a chant. One has to wonder just how it was heard from inside the trucks.

You will note below that no one understood what was being said later in this same testimony.

      The shouts of the Poles penetrated into the conscience of those weakened from hunger and thirst pains and agony and they started screaming and yelling thus deafening the camp.

This is not a clear statement. It appears to say that the prisoners started screaming so loud from inside the trucks that it was at least noticeable over the entire camp. But then how would someone inside on of the trucks know this?

This is clearly an examples of the eastern style of storytelling. What at first appears to be first hand testimony suddenly changes to a viewpoint of some nameless observer. I might also point out this is the style of much of the Old Testament, Genesis in particular.

      The SS-man Michel who was called by the camp inhabitants "the speaker" as he received the arrivals with a prepared speech, did not have much to say to the Polish Jews. Those were received with whips and gunshots. The Polish farmers also shouted at the Jews from Holland, Belgium, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Greece - but those did not understand the meaning of their shouts.

They did not understand the shouts. Then where did the translation of the chant above come from? This witness? Then she was Polish and (in the opening to the testimony) that she had started from Kracow to the east of Sobibor. So just where did they pick up people from the west and south of Sobibor? Is she trying to say everyone was shipped to Krakow first for some reason?

Practically speaking, she is not trying to do any more than tell a story. She has not considered the story for plausibility or consistancy. She is simply saying things that are to emotionally impact others. That is the essense of a good story.

      At their arrival to the camp they were welcomed with a speech by Michel: "You have to be disciplined. Strip off your clothes, make a nice bundle of them and attach them to the luggage, in order to recognize them immediately after the shower, because you will not receive other clothes here."

He we have a little more of this getting naked outdoors stuff.

      Among the transport of 7,000 men with whom Ada Lichtmann arrived in the year 1942 and who went on the same day to the gas chamber only three women survived chosen to work in the laundry.

This is clearly a statement from the narrator. If we presume that it was 7,000 men and women then it makes a bit more sense.

But note what happened here in the story. At first it was a description of the testimony of Ada Lichtman. Now it is suddenly someone talking about Ada Lichtman. Instead of Ada Lichtman talking someone is now talking about Ada Lichtman.

Who is this person now talking? And what does this person know about what happened?

A changing viewpoint is considered the sign of a clumsy fiction writer. But it is something that can not happen in a first person recounting of experienced events as there is only one viewpoint. From this point on we have no idea what is going on.

      With an indication of his finger the SS-commander took her out of the line and asked her for profession. When she answered that she was a teacher he and his assistants broke out in laughter: "We will teach you to be a laundress... Choose two other girls." Her closest friends Bela Sobol and Sarka Katz were already beyond the gate on the way to the crematorium, but she managed to get them out of the line.

Now here, we have a third person retelling by the same unknown person. At the very least we have no pretense whatsoever that this is any longer testimony.

In other words, like the soap threat earlier, she has no knowledge of what happened to the others after this point in the story. Except of course aerial photos of Sobibor show no signs of a crematorium. So it unclear where these people were going other than the implied showers.

      The Jews believed the Germans and in astonishing order they packed their belongings and after an hour not even one was alive, only a few craftsmen were allowed to survive.

But she has no way of knowing. But only three women survived for the laundry but some craftsmen survived but they were not selected before passing through the gate.

      We three organized the laundry in the camp. Until then the German officers too were dirty and lice-infected. In the course of time the laundry was enlarged and women from other transports arriving daily were distributed to us. The judges realized how Mrs. Lichtmann hesitates in her narration and talk to her kindly: "Talk, remember as much as you can".

Here we go right back to a first person account without the slightest indication by quotation marks as to which is testimony and which is narration.

They organized a laundry where none existed before and then the laundry was expanded. It is unclear just what the expansion of the laundry was for unless a) the number of Germans increased or b) the number of inmates increased. Neither increase would make sense on the assumption this was an extermination camp. (It was, in fact, a work camp specializing in logging and lumber production.)

      The tension in the hall extended also to the memory of the woman. She feels the good eyes of Dr. Beinski on her and of the stenotypist, a Lieutenant in the police Mrs. Hela Koslowski who stops her tears while writing every word going out of her mouth.

      The Germans do not want to hear about what she knows to tell but what she has seen with her own eyes.

Who would want to hear more of such an absurd tale? These are serious people who really have better to do than to suppress their incredulity.

      But how can she not tell about the shouts of women who arrived with the night transports.

That is a question and she can not tell because she did not witness it. What in the hell does the author think witness means?

      The heartbreaking shouts and screaming ceased for a moment and then once again beginning penetrating the limbs and soul. The SS-men boasted the next day that they raped the most beautiful women in front of the whole transport.

But it was at night yet they raped the most beautiful in front of the whole transport. That would indicate there was outdoor lighting or some such.

But then when Ada Lichtman arrived there was no rape but she arrived in the day time and this occurred at night, in the terrible dark. Thus we have another element of the witches sabboth in addition to the naked dancing, wild sex in the night. This is clearly another demonic element for the story.

      Generally the transports arrived during the day. Once on a hot summer day a transport arrived with thirsty people as it had been for several days since they had tasted a drop of water. The SS-officer allowed some to go and fetch water, but there the "Unterscharführer" Michel was already waiting for them and he made them run to a dug-up hole which served as a privy and forced them to smear their body and face with the excrement. And thus he brought them back to the thirsty people of the transport. From another transport young men were forced to beat each other to death. The last one remaining from this terrible battle was shot by the Germans.

And all of this from what she did not witness. Quite amazing that this level of testimony that was introduced in capital trials. Even more interesting that crossexamination was not permitted.

But even more interesting are the other aspects that appear strangely common yet told in different ways. These SS folks for some reason get some kind of thrill out of seeing people covered in excrement. They also appear to have picked up a Romanesque interest in battles to the death.

Where such interests might have come from is unclear, either for Germans to have them or for Easterners to invent them.

      The stories of Mrs. Lichtmann and her husband whom she met in Sobibor after the revolt are horrifying.

      They tell how the semi-alive victims tried to maintain to the last moment not only their human faces but also their human soulds. They tell about women who tried to save their children and were desparately driven to perform heroic deeds: About young mothers who attempted with their own bodies to cover and to defend their children. They tell about the Jewish officer of the Spanish civil war who immediately after his arrival tried organizing a revolt. The Germans found out about it and they chose 72 men and sent them to the crematorium.

There is a minor problem with this part of the story. Aerial photos of Sobibor show no signs of a crematorium. Other than that ... the story is that the gassed were first buried and later dug up and burned in bonfires, neither of which shows up in the aerial photos either.

Here we have another of those dancing, singing, orchestral moments that punctuate so much of the Holocaust. Perhaps she forgot to mention that they were naked but at least it has the civility of constructing a stage.

      This Frenzel once caught a boy red-handed, eating sardines, he gathered all the Jews from the barracks and in front of all he shot the child.

Eating sardines. Are they not Kosher? It is unclear just what was the "crime" of eating sardines. Perhaps it was simply a more extreme response than was involved in the search for the missing strawberries.

      Sobibor did not become at once a concentration of plants and workshops. The camp gradually expanded, developed slowly, erecting all kinds of workshops. There work was done only for the German officers and guards. Coats, dresses, furs were sewn there for them, their wives and mistresses. Very few Jews were sent to the forest to chop trees. Once the Jews of such a group attacked their guards, killed them and escaped. The Germans took revenge on other Jews. But all considered the heroism of the escaped as a miracle and dreamt of doing the same.

Giving the number of escapes from A-B and every camp this is nothing new.

      Sasha Pizurski who was brought to the camp with a group of prisoners of the Russian army immediately formed a committee to prepare a revolt. To this committee belonged also the heroes Leibl Feldhendler, Shaul Felischmann and others who strongly detested the Germans and had decided revenge.

Excuse me. It took people who detested to Germans to await the arrival of a Russian to organize this and yet the people there knew of 95%+ being gassed by them?

But the story is now changing to the work camp it really was.

      In the barracks weapons were started to appear: axes and knives. How dangerous this was! How much courage, cunning, patience you had to use in order to conceal this. Many efforts of the spirit and mind, will and courage had to be used to take guns, rifles, bullets from the storehouses. The participants of this operation were divided into groups. The plan was worked out to the smallest details: Every group and its duties - really imaginative tasks: Some had to assault the guardtowers where the guards sat with machineguns; some had to tempt the officers into coming into the workshops; others had to attack the guards that were wandering about. Special men had to cut off the telephone and electricity lines and tear down the barbed wires - to make passage ways.

      The revolt was fixed for October 14, 1943. 700 condemned to death enthusiastically took their fate into their own hands. Until the prearranged sign was given every group had performed its tasks well. Nevertheless things which had not been expected in advance happened. Guns started firing from both sides, axes and knives greedy for blood shone in the air and the whole camp changed into a battlefield. On this day, October 14, at 5 o'clock in the afternoon there began on the hellground of Sobibor the shedding of the malignent blood of the SS-men and their Ukrainian assistants. Those who had been so sure of themselves when millions of innocent women and children were led to death, seemed now anxious and inferior, they became confused and ran like mice into the trap looking for a hiding place.

For those surprised by the mention of axes, Sobibor was a lumber camp. Almost all of the men had access to them or equally deadly items all the time. If they did not they could not work.

It appears she is saying that men were not gassed. Suddenly children are mentioned for the first time. Suddenly millions had died here and it took a lone Russian to organize things. One expects this lone Russian to have been a communist Jew who inspired revolution.

The story does need a good editor, excuse me, an editor, a good editor would not touch the job.

      The SS-men and the police pursued the escapers. They mobilized airplanes and the Polish farmers of the area to help them pursue the fleeing Jews.

Now wait a minute. Poland was an occupied country. The SS did not limit itself to jews. And here we have Poles helping the SS? It sounds a bit like this person from Kracow has a strong dislike of Poles in addition to Ukranians.

But it is not a secret that Jews from Poland hate Christian Poles with a passion on a par with the jewish hatred of Arabs.

Tree leaves contain no known human nutriants. This is an otherwise unknown symptom of mushroom poisoning.

      They lowered their eyes and one of them was turning his head from side to side replied: "No, we did not easily agree to accept such a mission. It was forced upon us officially". And the second added: "Its a good thing that you did not agree to come to Germany,,,, so we were enabled to come to Israel, a wonderful journey." One of the present in the hall heard this conversation said: "The blood of the Jews shed by the Germans flowed like a river. Don't you think that by defending the murderers you emphasize the responsibility of the German people of what took place?" The two defenders ignoring the question avoided answering and the question remained unanswered.

It appears there was no presumption of innocense in this trial. It also appears the "judges" condemned the defense attorneys and assumed this witness was telling the truth despite her telling the impossible.

It is this kind of nonsense that the writers about the holocaust would rather ignore.