Former SS guard refuses to apologise to victim Nature’s beauty caught on camera
A HOLOCAUST survivor has come face-to-face with one of his former guards in a court room.
Emil Farkas, 92, sat across from Josef S, 100, who is on trial for being jointly responsible for the murder of 3,518 prisoners at Sachsenhausen, Germany.
Mr Farkas sang a line from a song he had been forced to sing by SS guards in the concentration camp.
He said the words reminded him of his niece Erika, who was deported to Auschwitz in 1942 when she was a oneyear-old child. She died there along with her parents.
Speaking to the defendant, Mr Farkas said: “Mr S, you have become a hundred times as old as this innocent child.
“You saw and heard me in the roll
call area and on the test track. Be brave now, at least now, and apologise.”
But the defendant told the judge in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, that he did not want to comment.
Mr Farkas was just 15 years old when he and his parents were taken from Czechoslovakia to Sachsenhausen in 1944. He told the court that he would often exercise before the first roll call at 5am which impressed his guards.
He added: “I was put into a shoebuying detachment.”
Mr Farkas said: “Every morning, we put on the new shoes and walked the 700-metre distance.”
He added that they had to cover “40 kilometres a day”, singing about “Erika”.
“Anyone who collapsed was shot immediately,” he said.
Addressing the defendant, Mr Farkas said: “I survived the destruction caused by the Nazi order.
“An order that you joined voluntarily.”
Mr Farkas is the sole survivor from Sachsenhausen to appear as a witness at the trial, which continues.
THESE cheerful frogs look like they are singing in the rain in this close-up picture – one of many astonishing shots captured for a photography contest.
The nature category at the International Photography Awards 2021 featured some breathtaking images of animals and insects.
Teguh Aria Djana took the picture of the frogs seeking shelter under leaves, but was pipped to the competition’s top prize.
Dutch snapper Liselotte Schuppers was named Nature Photographer Of the Year for his black and white photo Beyond Horses.
Andrew Doggett claimed second place for his mesmerising shots of a resting mountain gorilla and rhinos touching horns.
Tianhang Zhang’s snap of a dog in mid-air catching a ball also caught the eye of the judges.
Pedro Luis Ajuriaguerra Saiz was praised for his macro photography, capturing fascinating close-ups of spiders, beetles and damselflies.
Michelle Dawkins’s picture of a dog balancing on his owner’s feet was another breathtaking entry.
Jose Luis Ruiz Jimenez’s snap of great crested grebes flapping in the