Pursuing Nazi SS Soldiers

[WayneDougan]

These stories pop up every so often and I often don't know what to think about them. They catch some 90-year old guy who worked at a concentration camp when he was 20 years old - usually in a support staff role - and put him on trial.

In some respects I think it's a good thing; if I were a victim I'd want all those bastards put in jail or executed. But from a society standpoint, should they be spending the time and effort going after 90 year olds who were too young to be someone making real decisions during World War II? Thoughts?

70 Years Later

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

They did a pshychological study years back where students were asked to press a button to deliver a small shock to someone which would increase each time they had to press the button. With enough pressure and use of authority and group think, nearly all of the students did it. Just goes to show that under the right circumstances, we are all capable of such things. The Germans just so happened to be those people then.

 

[dezyDeco]

Originally posted by CatDaddy4daWin:
They did a pshychological study years back where students were asked to press a button to deliver a small shock to someone which would increase each time they had to press the button. With enough pressure and use of authority and group think, nearly all of the students did it. Just goes to show that under the right circumstances, we are all capable of such things. The Germans just so happened to be those people then.

Not to mention, they'd have had a bullet in their head if they didn't follow their orders. I don't think Hitler was a big fan of conscientious objectors.

 

[DSmith21]

Germany changed its laws a few years ago about going after former Nazis. It used to be that there had to be witnesses that saw a soldier commit atrocities in order to try them. Now just serving in a camp makes them a perpetrator. That is kind of crummy for these guys in the 90's now. Germany is trying to whitewash history at their expense. It is interesting that Austria and the Baltic States generally do not prosecute these war crimes even though many of the death camp guards came from those places.

 

[Big_Blue79]

Originally posted by CatDaddy4daWin:
They did a pshychological study years back where students were asked to press a button to deliver a small shock to someone which would increase each time they had to press the button. With enough pressure and use of authority and group think, nearly all of the students did it. Just goes to show that under the right circumstances, we are all capable of such things. The Germans just so happened to be those people then.

The Stanford Prison Experiment went even further. The students/participants were divided into inmates and guards. The whole thing got so out of hand they had to shut it down.

 

[LordEgg]

i more interested in prosecuting modern nazi types.

 

[HymanKaplan]

A subject that hits close to home for me. My grandfather died in a concentration camp.





































(he fell out of a guard tower)

 

[DSmith21]

Only the Nazis were ever brought to justice for the death of millions. Mao, Pol Pot and Stalin were all responsible for the deaths of millions but each got away with it. Yet history judges them differently maybe because they did not come from western nations.

 

[argubs2]

Wow, lots of Nazi sympathy rolling around on the Paddock today.

Do I think we need to actively expend resources to pursue 90 yr old former Nazis? No, but I also am a little more hesitant than some to morally exonerate them due to groupthink.

 

[AustinTXCat]

Originally posted by HymanKaplan:

A subject that hits close to home for me. My grandfather died in a concentration camp.


(he fell out of a guard tower)

First heard this in 1985 with a punch line that went "he got drunk and fell out of a guard tower".

 

[Lexie's Dad]

 

[maverick1]

Originally posted by argubs2:
Wow, lots of Nazi sympathy rolling around on the Paddock today.

Yep, lotta folks punching their one-way ticket to Heil today.

 

[funKYcat75]

Originally posted by maverick1:

Originally posted by argubs2:
Wow, lots of Nazi sympathy rolling around on the Paddock today.

Yep, lotta folks punching their one-way ticket to Heil today.

I gotta say, I did Nazi that coming.

 

[BernieSadori]

Why are the Jews so focused in everything they do?




They went to concentration camp!

 

[WayneDougan]

No Nazi sympathizers a here, but the group think part of this isn't that far fetched (although apparently those studies cited earlier weren't 100% valid). I guess the question comes down to how voluntary a position at the concentration camp was. Suppose it was not voluntary; what happened to you if you turned it down? Or suppose they said you can check people into a work camp or you can go fight in Stalingrad. Could you blame a guy for picking the safer assignment? Or lastly, what if you volunteered thinking it truly was a work camp? I think all these details, which you don't hear about, are important if governments are going to spend tax dollars hunting these guys down.

 

[maverick1]

Originally posted by BernieSadori:
Why are the Jews so focused in everything they do?




They went to concentration camp!

that's Hitlerious