Germany Arrests Former Auschwitz Guard - Is This Justice?

[Rukentuts]

Well since this sort of thing is still happening around the world why not hop off the forums and go do something about it? Instead of standing around and posting about it. Moral compasses man lol but really if he was in fear of his life and just taking orders they're just adding another cruel ordeal to the mans life that was clearly full of them already.

Because random people suffering != People suffering before my eyes, as a direct result of my actions.

If you're striving for false equivalencies, you've succeeded.

[Kalis]

I agree that senior officers should still be charged if found, but not the lower ranks unless they personally committed some atrocity off their own initiative.

[Hypasonic]

So what happens now? They sentence him to life imprisonment at the tax payers cost? Gee, that's really going to ease the memories.

[Erolian]

Because random people suffering != People suffering before my eyes, as a direct result of my actions.

If you're striving for false equivalencies, you've succeeded.

and if it was a direct result of your own(assuming here) and most of the rest of the world's decided action of inaction? Not really the point however. The article doesn't really mention how they know if he did anything willingly or not and just says well we have "evidence" so its pretty wrong to jump on it either way IMO.

[Shakari]

I still don't think that excuses standing by as people as tortured, starved, beaten, shot, and gassed. If your moral compass doesn't even compute that maybe you should desert your post, there's something wrong with you.

I tend to be rather conflicted when making a judgement like this. 1st Morally I totally agree, how could anyone sit by an say/do nothing. And in doing so there guilty.

But then I sit and think what if (and this is how it was for many people), if you said or or tried to do something about it, yourself, your familiy, children, relatives etc would dissappear or just be killed. Would you say something/do something (even tho the chance of you making a difference would be nearly zero) under those conditions.

Would you be strong enough to condemn your whole family to the fate of those you saw suffer for the sake of doing what is actually right? or even risk your family. I do wonder how many people would be able to answer truthfully and actually say yes.

Was the same in Russia, you said the wrong thing and you dissappeared ...

The case for me is really, did he take part willingly or unwillingly (under duress), and over 65 years later its rather hard to prove.
A lot of germans without a shadow of a doubt supported and took part willingly at the time, there must of been a large following for it to start and exist.

Not an easy thing to decide in my book.

[Deleted]

Justice? Possibly. Overall after 70 years german or japanese war criminals get prosecuted, american, french or russion ones play with their grandchildren and once per year there's a parade when they roll around in their wheelchairs, wear lametta on their chests and their neighbours shout hurray.

[SL1200]

"I was just following orders" isn't an excuse it's an admission of guilt.

[Osmeric]

It was just orders, why arrest the guy for following orders?

It's a settled point that this is not a defense.

[Sunseeker]

No, it's not. The guy is 93. There's no point in any of this. Put him on trial for what? Genocide? He stood at a gate, it's not like he gunned down prisoners for fun, or was tasked with gassing them or cutting them up into little pieces. You can't put that kind of blame on one man.

[Kalyyn]

This is a disgusting perversion of justice. My grandpa burned dozens of Japanese and Koreans alive with a flamethrower when he was serving. Do they get to come arrest him now, too?

Grunts don't get to choose their post. Punishing this man because he guarded a door... The prosecutor has a special place reserved for him in hell.

[Skippy88]

I picked other. The article states he's been in Germany since 1983 and his whereabouts have been known to authorities for some quite time. So, why now? What's changed?

I would also take into account his health. If he's going to die shortly no use spending all kinds of resources on him.

[artemishunter1]

Of course it's justice. He participated in mass murder.

If he ever felt remorse about it after the war he should have turned himself in and attempted to make amends for his crimes.

He was a guard. Not someone who took the prisoners to be killed personally. He was simply watching no one escapes. Its his job. Unless, he took people to be killed personally, he is not responsible for that crime.

[Deleted]

He was a soldier in a military environment at a time where disobeying orders would likely get you shot at dawn, "Just Following orders" is not an excuse, it is a fact of life that in the military you are given orders and you follow them, especially in war time.

Whilst I don't deny what happened was atrocious and totally unforgivable, unless he was directly responsible in the executions and was just a cook with no involvement in actual murder's then he should be left alone.

However, if it is proven that he was involved in the act's, or gave orders for the murders then he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

[Netherspark]

If he was just a cook as he claims then I don't know what can really be done. It's not like he would have had much of a choice in where he was stationed or what the Nazi leadership ordered the soldiers to do.

Many german soldiers were just as trapped as the innocent civillians they were ordered to kill - refusal would have meant horrible things for them and their families, even if it was the right thing to do.

[Roelath]

Resist? You die and the chances of those who love you and/or are family die along with you.

Go along with it? Live and so does your family.

It's definitely morally questionable but, humans are innately born to survive... and not willing toss their life away or the lives away of their family. You can act all heroic behind your monitor stating he is a terrible individual but, you would have done the same in his shoes. Few people have the willpower to willingly take a bullet just to make a point.

[meathead]

this is a load of BS-the guys 93 years old.he was a soldier for crying out load.he did what he was told to do,just like they do now adays.this hole nazi thing is all hyped up by the Jewish run media.flame me all you want,but you all know im right.why can America get off scott-free,we are the ones that kill million and millions of innocent people.hell America use to bomb german city's during ww2 and target non military.american bombers use to drop bombs that dug into the ground so they could blow up the gas lines.one the gas lines we destroyed,we had our bombers drop napalm to set the gas a blaze,right in the city streets,justice me ass.

what about america killing millions of native americans ,justice right?what about the jews who killed millions in Russian "prision camps" you never head anything about that because the jews control the media.what about all the people being killed by the jews right now in the middle east=justice right,wrong its called corruption.

after ww2 the death total for jews killed was a couple 100 thousand.but over the years they keep pushing that # higher without any proof.they took the population before ww2 and then after ww2 and said o that must have all been killed.well what about the millions and millions of jews that left and came to America?mel gibsions father who is a priest spoke out against the jews and look at what the jews tried to do to mel gibsion in hollywood.dont believe everything you read because it all biased.

and i should add im not saying i agree of disagree with any thing that happened during ww2,but i will say this.the jews were giving every chance to leave but some would not.if a jew paid this taxes a year in advance the german government allowed him to leave the country for good.

guess where all the "bad german scientists" ended up?working for nasa because the USA stole then before the russians "our allies" could.this was one reason the cold war started.so again dont believe everything you read and/hear.

Infracted - please do not post conspiracy theories

[artemishunter1]

It's a settled point that this is not a defense.

Unless, you are from a victorious country. These war crimes trials are sham, unless you can bring the victorious country to Justice i.e. U.S., Great Britain, France etc.

[Bakis]

Yeah, people are savages.

He had no trial, why are you so keen to execute him?

[Osmeric]

This is a disgusting perversion of justice. My grandpa burned dozens of Japanese and Koreans alive with a flamethrower when he was serving. Do they get to come arrest him now, too?

There's a difference between kill soldiers in war, and being on the staff of an extermination camp.

[FloridaElement]

only arrested him huh... darn. Scumbag deserves so much worse in my opinion.