Nazi camp guards charged with hundreds of Holocaust killings

[Pupi]

You are exactly the person I'm addressing. True justice isn't always a reality esspecially in this case. No amount of pretending will change that

This doesn't mean we cannot find some middle ground here. Like I said just execute them and move on.

I don't believe in absolutes, but what does true justice mean to you and how could that have been put to practice? Justice can still occur, whether its true or not. I agree with your last statement.

 

[Teppodama]

Without knowing the details of the case, i would guess these geriatrics had some very dark stories with the captives, and on top of that, were part and parcel to one of if not the greatest crime against humanity in history.

Atrocity is common throughout human history. Whole cultures and civilizations have been put to the torch. Numerous peoples wiped from the face of the earth. The Holocaust was just as despicable as any of them, but no more horrible in scope or pain. It retains such a focus in Western society because there are still enough survivors living to keep it "fresh" in our consciousness and for the destructive world war it was a part of.

 

[Amerikuracana]

War is hell.

 

[LockardTheGOAT]

People are actually against them being prosecuted? Really?

Of course they're so fucking old they could die any day, that's not the point. They helped run a Nazi concentration camp that lead to one of the most disturbing mass killings in human history. It doesn't matter how much time has passed, they should be tried and convicted (or to get the most punishment out of what little time they have left, just toss them in a dumpster fire or something.)

 

[LockardTheGOAT]

Atrocity is common throughout human history. Whole cultures and civilizations have been put to the torch. Numerous peoples wiped from the face of the earth. The Holocaust was just as despicable as any of them, but no more horrible in scope or pain. It retains such a focus in Western society because there are still enough survivors living to keep it "fresh" in our consciousness and for the destructive world war it was a part of.

There's a difference between innocents being inevitably caught in the middle of a war, and some delusional madman deciding to execute an entire race of people (and also perform barbaric experiments on them) because he believed them to be inferior.

 

[Teppodama]

There's a difference between innocents being inevitably caught in the middle of a war, and some delusional madman deciding to execute an entire race of people (and also perform barbaric experiments on them) because he believed them to be inferior.

I wager those massacred outside of what occurred during the Holocaust would argue the point. Dead is dead. But if you want to play the "who had it worse" game I'll double down on Native Americans. The holocaust was an atrocity, lets be clear about that. Horrible indictment of mans inhumanity to man but lets be real as well. There has been a more consistent and aggressive push to ensure that no one forgets or overlooks what occurred or to whom. Not that such an effort isn't worthy, just that it shows what effective effort and PR can do over the long term when determined to make sure no one ever forgets.

 

[Michaelangelo]

too bad we'll never get justice for Japanese war crimes

 

[HereticBD]

Just execute them if they're guilty. They're not worth the medical costs to keep them alive in prison. Just push them down some stairs, and be done with it.

 

[Strychnine]

Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

 

[Chris Kyle is a liar]

The germans have suffered enough for god sakes. Going after a poor 90 year old man is just not a good look imo.

 

[TheFirstEMP]

Here's the point to locking them up:

They're fucking nazis who helped run a concentration camp.

Like...real Nazis? Or Trump supporting, Alt-right 'Nazis'?

 

[Undying Poster]

Here's the point to locking them up:

They're fucking nazis who helped run a concentration camp.

That was just his way at attacking liberals who think that prison should be about rehabilitation and not punishment

He can reply to this and deny it but that's what he did: he said you have to give up the notion that prison should be about rehabilitation (liberal belief) if you want to lock them up.

Pretty insane when shit gets to the point where you have to take potshots at liberals when discussing locking up Nazis

 

[Quipling]

Like...real Nazis? Or Trump supporting, Alt-right 'Nazis'?

You cannot possibly be this stupid.

These are former members of the SS who worked at a concentration camp.

 

[DoomPatrol]

It's simply too late for them to suffer on any meaningful level.

While I agree, I also happen to know real Holocaust victims who lost everything and my grandfather fought the motherfuckers in the Army and Navy.

I don't think any surviving victim should have to sit next to a concentration camp guard simply because the guard was in hiding for a while. It's disgraceful to the surviving victims to say what happened to them isn't worth retribution anymore.

I think the least we can do is charge and punish the people responsible. Make sure it's official that what they did was wrong and that you won't get away with it.

 

[Pickle Rick]

too bad we'll never get justice for Japanese war crimes

Hiroshima and Nagasaki called, they said hold my beer

 

[zebby23]

That was wrong they shouldn't have done that.

Gets me every time

 

[TheFirstEMP]

You cannot possibly be this stupid.

These are former members of the SS who worked at a concentration camp.

Was a joke there, Nancy.

 

[Oedad]

Many people killed many people in WW2. The British bombing of Dresden killed many innocent Germans ... should they be punished retrospectively???

I generally don't believe low ranking enlisted personnel who are 90+ years old should be punished for the deeds of their officers and politicians.

Right now I'd say let sleeping dogs lie as those actually responsible for the crimes are long dead and most of them even had their images rehabilitated to the public to serve western interests after the war.

In an ideal world at the end of the war all war criminals who had actual decision making power (senior NCOs, officers, and major politicians) should have been justly punished. I'd prefer if the officers and political leaders on all sides would have taken responsibility for their actions and let the enlisted move on.

I don't believe the allies were inherently "better" than anyone else in the conflict. I don't buy into the "good vs evil" hype that was shoved down the world's throats after WW2. At best it was two evil dictatorships and the anglosphere duking it out with the main motivating factor behind the conflict being the acquisition of more power. The elites may have sold it to the populace as a conflict of "good vs evil" in their propaganda efforts to maintain morale, but in reality it was a fight for the hegemony of Europe same as WW1 or the 30 years wars. We just had a better propaganda apparatus at the time which allowed our governments to more effectively dehumanize our enemies.

Read "War Without Mercy" it shows just how dark the racial views those in the US and UK had towards the Japanese during the war were and how similar they were to the German views on Slavs or Jews. Western racism led to mass atrocities throughout the pacific theater, and we just gloss over that fact because we won and we needed the Japanese to form a bulwark against communism in the east after the war.

 

[Oedad]

While I agree, I also happen to know real Holocaust victims who lost everything and my grandfather fought the motherfuckers in the Army and Navy.

I don't think any surviving victim should have to sit next to a concentration camp guard simply because the guard was in hiding for a while. It's disgraceful to the surviving victims to say what happened to them isn't worth retribution anymore.

I think the least we can do is charge and punish the people responsible. Make sure it's official that what they did was wrong and that you won't get away with it.

The problem is they weren't really "in hiding." The SS was not the only organization responsible for the atrocities in WW2 and the regular German army the Wehrmacht was complicit in almost all the atrocities of the Nazi regime, often working hand in hand with the SS, yet the leaders of the Wehrmacht after the war came away clean and even today the paltry few they are prosecuting are low ranking SS stooges who had no real power or responsibility for the decisions or actions of the military and government.

You have to look up the Himmerod memoradum and the formation of the Bundeswehr to understand why these people haven't been prosecuted until 72+ years after the war, and why almost every major German commander and leader got off virtually scot free.

After the war the German government and the allies agreed to whitewash the actions of the Wehrmacht and most of the SS in exchange for there soldiers forming a new German military to guard against the Soviets. In exchange for forming this military the West agreed to pardon most war criminals, stop prosecuting members of the military, treat the waffle-ss as regular veterans, and to present the myth of a "clean Wehrmacht."

Its only been since the late 90s, coincidentally after all the generals and high ranking officers who made this deal died and the soviets collapsed, that all off a sudden the ''clean Wehrmacht" myth has taken a hit, and the German government started finding these "hiding" Nazis and SS members.

In reality they knew the entire time who these people were and willingly let them live their lives and even gave them veterans benefits and honors in exchange for their commanders help in establishing a bulwark against the Soviets. Once the Soviets collapsed and all of the Wehrmacht higher ups died they are picking off a few dozen of the lowest ranking survivors of the SS in order to make a show like they were always dedicated to searching out and punishing these terrible criminals

 

[abiG]

These were 20 year old kids that were following orders. How would you like, 70 years down the road, to watch Americans who followed orders in Afghanistan or Iraq for example to prosecuted and incarcerated for their crimes?