Auschwitz Guard standing trial

[enragedgorilla]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/art...in-6212867.php

it is an AP article I just linked it from my "local" rag.

Kind of interesting, Not sure I would agree with accessory charges unless they can prove he did more than his claims that he counted money of the Jews and stood guard.
Then again I do not know the laws or what constitutes accessory to a crime in this case.

[Doctor Amadeus]

http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/art...in-6212867.php

it is an AP article I just linked it from my "local" rag.

Kind of interesting, Not sure I would agree with accessory charges unless they can prove he did more than his claims that he counted money of the Jews and stood guard.
Then again I do not know the laws or what constitutes accessory to a crime in this case.

Yep, he should pay the price right along side those that offered up the blood money he was accounting for.

[Imnick]

Standing guard and preventing the victims of an atrocity from escaping that fate is definitely enough participation to be an accessory. It's not a neutral or separated action.
He states in the article that he was not unaware of what was going on. 15 years in prison (which he will quite probably not live to see the end of) is not pleasant but it does not seem like an unjust fate even for an old man.

It's not like he's facing a death sentence, he will face the end of his years in confinement but, to be frank, thats better than what the prisoners he guarded were facing and he didn't let THEM go free. There were elderly people there too.

[Deleted]

Leave the old man alone, seriously people!

[enragedgorilla]

Yep, he should pay the price right along side those that offered up the blood money he was accounting for.

the way7 I read it , he was accounting for the money "on the person" of the Jews being processed into the camp.
He was quoted as saying ,"They didn't need it anymore." or some such.

[The One Percent]

Leave the old man alone, seriously people!

If he is guilty, then he deserves everything he is getting and more.

[Nyothe]

If he is guilty, then he deserves everything he is getting and more.

He will get nothing. Even if he is convicted guilty, he will be declared "unfit for prison" and simply sent home.

[Moxal]

What he did was obviously wrong, but... He is 93 years old, what do they expect to accomplish with this trial? Saving face as a country?

[enragedgorilla]

Standing guard and preventing the victims of an atrocity from escaping that fate is definitely enough participation to be an accessory. It's not a neutral or separated action.

Again I would love to know the trial definition of accessory to it since international laws are so..varied.

[Hoka Inumuta]

I feel like they should make him do something more productive like educating people about the Holocaust imo.

[Deleted]

He will get nothing. Even if he is convicted guilty, he will be declared "unfit for prison" and simply sent home.

Not necessarily. Prisons in Germany are vastly different from those in the US. He might very likely end up in one of the lower security facilities seeing as how escaping for him would be fairly hard. Being 93 he might actually not even see the end of his trial and for certain not the end of his prison term.

[Littleraven]

What he did was obviously wrong, but... He is 95 years old, what do they expect to accomplish with this trial? Saving face as a country?

^This....FFS. This sounds like nothing but a total waste of time and resources. "LETS PUT A GUY ON TRIAL THAT DID SOMETHING A LIFETIME AGO". I mean I get it.....but at 93 there is literally nothing they can do to this dude.

[Deleted]

Leave the old man alone, seriously people!

And what do you say to those victims who are still living? Forget it! It's history? Of course they demand justice. But for them it's far more important that their story is told und heard. And that's the most important part of the trial.

[ParanoiD84]

He's 93 years old and will die either way soon, not much point putting him in jail now is it.

[enragedgorilla]

I feel like they should make him do something more productive like educating people about the Holocaust imo.

I agree, at least giving a detailed video documentation of what he saw and did during that time.
I read a book called "The Good Old days" can't recall who wrote it , but it was essentially a collection of notes,private journal's entries and logs from Death camp staff and persons involved in the "final solution" during the war.
The insights were rather more disturbing because they showed the mindset of not just the Nazi machine but the general acceptance and support of the German people.
Going out for a picnic near the camps and smelling the ovens burning flesh ...and not being bothered by it much kind of stuck in my head.

[Imnick]

You can write books, be filmed, and be in jail at the same time.

[Deleted]

What he did was obviously wrong, but... He is 93 years old, what do they expect to accomplish with this trial? Saving face as a country?

Agreed, he should have been punished but at the age of 95 is there even a point pursing these criminals anymore? All the head honchos are long dead and the ones they are arresting were just peons that were probably conscripted.

[Deleted]

When people over 90 go to trial I have to wonder what prison is intended for. Rehabilitation? Doesn't apply. Keeping a dangerous person off the streets? Doesn't apply.

The only thing I can come up with is vengeance, or "justice" as it's called when morality gets arbitrarily thrown in.

[Doctor Amadeus]

the way7 I read it , he was accounting for the money "on the person" of the Jews being processed into the camp.
He was quoted as saying ,"They didn't need it anymore." or some such.

Damn! Sounds like a special kind of asshole, but unfortunately not all to uncommon enough.

[Pengekaer]

I think it's a tough one. He is definately guilty of crimes against our species. But he was also very young and probably just a ragdoll heavily influenced by nazi-propaganda (he grew up in the 30's). Propaganda is efficient, and the guy here grew up with it in abundance. So many in nazi-Germany were 'guilty' at the time - what about doctors reporting "deficiencies" in newborns etc. at the time? They were also guilty of genocide. Thing is, if everyone to some degree guilty from nazi-Germany were held accountable for their actions, then the allies would have had to execute or incarnate (for decades) a very significant portion of the German population. But back then, they the Allies the right thing; They court-martialed the leaders, propagandists, crazy scientists etc. - the ones who intellectually made up the foundation of Nazi-germany.
The man in question here was young, uninformed and brainwashed - a ragdoll of the Nazi-Empire, like literally tens of millions of other Germans.

Islamic state fighters from the West today are far less "excused". They have an education (basic school) free of racial-hate propaganda and can seek information independently. For such guys today, the choosing of ISIS is a much more informed choice. Back then, the kids were indoctrinated heavily, which of course grants less independent, more one-dimensional characters.