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Should German WWII vets be arrested?[W:260]

Should German WWII vets still be arrested?

  • Yes

    Votes: 15 22.1%
  • No

    Votes: 29 42.6%
  • It depends

    Votes: 24 35.3%

  • Total voters
    68
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

So every employee who worked for Union Carbide is now guilty of being an accomplice to the deaths which occurred at Bhopal.

That is no comparison whatsoever. German soldiers and guards were not passively merely present if how the camps worked is understood. There were no innocent guards if they had been there more than a very short time.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

So every employee who worked for Union Carbide is now guilty of being an accomplice to the deaths which occurred at Bhopal.

If you and I go to the bank and I run inside while you wait in the car, and I tell you that I just need to make a withdrawal, but, in fact, I rob the bank, in actuality you are not complicit in the bank robbery.

This is an excellent fact pattern because I think you realize that in point of fact, the police might not believe you, when you tell them you had no idea I was going to rob the bank. From somebody who isn't privy to the facts as they actually are, what's the weight of the credible evidence, and the segue to a concentration camp is fairly obvious here. Its difficult for somebody at a concentration camp to make the equivalent plea of "I didn't know they were robbing the bank"

Same fact pattern, but now you do know that I'm robbing the bank, and now you're the getaway driver and you're criminally liability for intentionally assisting a criminal act. Driving a car, in and of itself, isn't illegal of course.

Intent is a very important element and by bringing up Bhopal, which, at its core was an industrial accident, where, at best, the decision makers were criminally negligent.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Here's a more realistic comparison. Remember the Abu Ghraib torture scandal? Do you think that a low ranking soldier who was following orders from his CO and stood guard while the prisoners were being tortured (but did not directly participate, just standing guard) should be charged for being complicit in torture? Because that is essentially what Germany is doing. Germany is going after former soldiers who followed their orders and stood guard.

Yes, if an American soldier stood by and did not at some point report it I would hold that soldier accountable. The soldier could not possibly be court martialed for doing so. No German soldier could have been court martialed for refusing to participate at any level. Nor was this rare for German soldiers to do so.

The reason they shifted from killing those in the camp by shooting is due to the number of German officers and soldiers refusing and complaining - plus rapidly increasing suicide among such German soldiers. MOST people despite are determine a soldier willing to kill enemy can not handle be part of anything even as just a passive member when that unit is shooting women, children, babies, old people in mass numbers. That is the reason they shifted to gassing people as the main reason they did so - though there were other reasons too.

I would not charge such an American soldier with being "complicit in torture." I would charge that officer with conduct unbecoming an officer and violating rules of war for not reporting it - meaning participating in a coverup of criminal activity by other members of the service.

What would be unusual about this? If soldiers stood guard and watched officers selling heroin on base and didn't report it, that also would be violations including criminal violations.

So while your's definitely now a better example, I have the same response. Failing to report grave misconduct and failing to attempt to not be a participant - directly or passively - should be prosecuted.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

While people keep trying to bring up lesser and other analogies, there are few comparisons to what the known and apparent realities of what the death camps were and how the functioned, and again I will point out that any German soldier could refuse without fear of retribution. The German military could not and would not take actions against such German soldiers - who refused and many did - because they never wanted it on record this was Hitler's policy, German government policy or military policy. Overall, they went well out of their way to insure that no evidence or records of any kind remained - why they resorted to burning bodies rather than growing mass graves. They believed they could maintain deniability.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

"I didn't know they were robbing the bank"

Don't overlook the other important aspect. Retroactive culpability for crime. If robbing a bank is not an illegal act, then is made against the law, how do you justify punishing you, the driver, for being an accessory to an act which was not illegal when it happened but is illegal today?
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Don't overlook the other important aspect. Retroactive culpability for crime. If robbing a bank is not an illegal act, then is made against the law, how do you justify punishing you, the driver, for being an accessory to an act which was not illegal when it happened but is illegal today?

There's an Ex Post Facto limitation in the United States of course. There were certain crimes charged that would be questionable of course in this light, but murder or accessory to murder really wouldn't be one of them. Nuremberg laws notwithstanding, which defined who was and who wasn't a Jew, believe it or not, nothing in German in law prescribed the killing of Jews. They knew it was criminal and there's a reason they didn't make the law.

"I am referring here to the evacuation of the Jews, the extermination of the Jewish people. This is one of the things that is easily said: "The Jewish people are going to be exterminated," that’s what every Party member says, "sure, it’s in our program, elimination of the Jews, extermination – it’ll be done." And then they all come along, the 80 million worthy Germans, and each one has his one decent Jew. Of course, the others are swine, but this one, he is a first-rate Jew. Of all those who talk like that, not one has seen it happen, not one has had to go through with it. Most of you men know what it is like to see 100 corpses side by side, or 500 or 1,000. To have stood fast through this and – except for cases of human weakness – to have stayed decent, that has made us hard. This is an unwritten and never-to-be-written page of glory in our history, for we know how difficult it would be for us if today – under bombing raids and the hardships and deprivations of war – if we were still to have the Jews in every city as secret saboteurs, agitators, and inciters. If the Jews were still lodged in the body of the German nation, we would probably by now have reached the stage of 1916-17"
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Where did i imply they volunteered?

Then the whole situation wouldn't make sense. If you didn't want to commit murder then you simply didn't have to volunteer. I thought we were discussing under the hypothesis if people were forced to participate in mass murder.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

No, you are making excuses and displaying a lack of knowledge and understanding. The sale of 240,0000 books is HUGE. You think his having a book that is a BEST SELLER means nobody knew about his politics? Do you think there were no Newspapers reporting upon him? Did people not talk to each other?

Good grief, this notion you are trying to sell here that the German people elected somebody who they knew nothing about is downright laughable.

No, I am not making excuses I am telling that it is not always as black and white/simplistic as you seem to think it is.

Of the 13.75 million voters not even 2% had bought is book (the ones that voted in 1932) so don't make out that the sale of the book was HUGE because of the 44 million registered voters not even 0.55% had bought the book.

Even now, in the information age a lot of people do not properly know what the candidates that they vote for actually say/want. The same goes for political parties, not matter if that happens in the US or in Europe. And in the time of no TV and only Radio, do you think that the speeches of Hitler were about what he stated in the Mein Kampf? No, the election posters of that time were about hunger, unemployment and how Hitler and his party were the only people that could deliver the German people from that. Hitler flew around in a plane on a campaign not unlike US presidents did, flying to big stadiums with thousands of listeners. He visited up to three a day on his plane. Delivering a message of "freedom, food and employment". His political enemies had the measure of Hitler and told the public so but with an empty belly, you are much more willing to listen to that era's "Tea Party" (not that I am comparing the Tea Party with the Nazi Party just to show that the NSDAP was the new kid on the block), a fresh new party with little or no links to Weimar. Just like a few years back in the US it was a good thing not to be a member of the Washington elite. Well, in Germany in that time people thought of the politicians of old political parties just as some Americans see the corrupt and wasteful Washington insiders.

Hitler did not say, vote for me and I will start a war and a genocide. No, he said we have to get rid of the corrupt politicians and enemies of the state and give the power back to the workers of Germany. Give them back their pride, give them food, give them purpose and give them jobs.

In 1932 Hitler was not seen by many as the monster that we later knew he was. For the starving, poor, unemployed, undefended from enemies people with little or no pride left, Adolf Hitler looked and sounded like their savior. He was going to save them from starvation, from poverty, from unemployment, from their enemies (like the communists of Stalin and the German parties that worked with Stalin) and to give them their pride back. The pride that they lost in 1918, when they lost the right to defend themselves (by having an army), from building weapons to defend themselves, when they lost parts of their country to the French and Belgians and the French also occupied part of Germany until 1935.

Hitler campaigned as a world war one veteran and promised his country back the pride and prosperity they had lost due to the peace treaty of 1918. He promised them food and jobs and that was more important to whole scores of Germans who ignored the warnings from the communists and the social democrats. Sure for the politically savvy there were signs, but for Joe the Plumber, Joe Public and Joe the Farmer, Hitler was there to save them and that is why he won elections.

You might think it is laughable, but when you ask the regular voter on the street about what the republicans and democrats really stand for, you will get many blank stares and wrong points of view. Even in this day and age. And that lack of knowledge is there in all age groups. Even though we live in a super information universe, a lot of people don't know and/or don't care. They voted Romney because Obama is a Muslim foreigner while others voted for Obama while not knowing what he stands for.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Essentially all Germans knew how horrifically Jews were being treated should of direct knowledge of mass genocide. They saw all their businesses, homes and personal property seized. They knew they were being beaten to death in the streets. They knew they were being rounded up into cattle cars never to be seen or heard from again.

While most didn't know of the mass murder, its not like they didn't know anything. Many if not most supported what they did know was happening, and later in the war were facing such hardships themselves certainly didn't care about what may be happening to the vanished Jews.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

No, I am not making excuses I am telling that it is not always as black and white/simplistic as you seem to think it is.

This was a very thoughtful post. To add to your point, look at some of the policies advocated by the party:

1. We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany on the basis of the right of self-determination of peoples.

2. We demand equality of rights for the German people in respect to the other nations; abrogation of the peace treaties of Versailles and St. Germain.

3. We demand land and territory (colonies) for the sustenance of our people, and colonization for our surplus population.

4. Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood, without consideration of creed. Consequently no Jew can be a member of the race.

5. Whoever has no citizenship is to be able to live in Germany only as a guest, and must be under the authority of legislation for foreigners.

6. The right to determine matters concerning administration and law belongs only to the citizen. Therefore we demand that every public office, of any sort whatsoever, whether in the Reich, the county or municipality, be filled only by citizens. We combat the corrupting parliamentary economy, office-holding only according to party inclinations without consideration of character or abilities.

7. We demand that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and way of life for the citizens. If it is impossible to sustain the total population of the State, then the members of foreign nations (non-citizens) are to be expelled from the Reich.

8. Any further immigration of non-citizens is to be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans, who have immigrated to Germany since the 2 August 1914, be forced immediately to leave the Reich.

9. All citizens must have equal rights and obligations.

10. The first obligation of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically. The activity of individuals is not to counteract the interests of the universality, but must have its result within the framework of the whole for the benefit of all Consequently we demand:

11. Abolition of unearned (work and labour) incomes. Breaking of rent-slavery.

12. In consideration of the monstrous sacrifice in property and blood that each war demands of the people personal enrichment through a war must be designated as a crime against the people. Therefore we demand the total confiscation of all war profits.

13. We demand the nationalization of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).

14. We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.

15. We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.

16. We demand the creation of a healthy middle class and its conservation, immediate communalization of the great warehouses and their being leased at low cost to small firms, the utmost consideration of all small firms in contracts with the State, county or municipality.

17. We demand a land reform suitable to our needs, provision of a law for the free expropriation of land for the purposes of public utility, abolition of taxes on land and prevention of all speculation in land.

18. We demand struggle without consideration against those whose activity is injurious to the general interest. Common national criminals, usurers, Schieber and so forth are to be punished with death, without consideration of confession or race.

19. We demand substitution of a German common law in place of the Roman Law serving a materialistic world-order.

20. The state is to be responsible for a fundamental reconstruction of our whole national education program, to enable every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education and subsequently introduction into leading positions. The plans of instruction of all educational institutions are to conform with the experiences of practical life. The comprehension of the concept of the State must be striven for by the school [Staatsbuergerkunde] as early as the beginning of understanding. We demand the education at the expense of the State of outstanding intellectually gifted children of poor parents without consideration of position or profession.

21. The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement of physical fitness, by means of the legal establishment of a gymnastic and sport obligation, by the utmost support of all organizations concerned with the physical instruction of the young.

22. We demand abolition of the mercenary troops and formation of a national army.

23. We demand legal opposition to known lies and their promulgation through the press. In order to enable the provision of a German press, we demand, that: a. All writers and employees of the newspapers appearing in the German language be members of the race: b. Non-German newspapers be required to have the express permission of the State to be published. They may not be printed in the German language: c. Non-Germans are forbidden by law any financial interest in German publications, or any influence on them, and as punishment for violations the closing of such a publication as well as the immediate expulsion from the Reich of the non-German concerned. Publications which are counter to the general good are to be forbidden. We demand legal prosecution of artistic and literary forms which exert a destructive influence on our national life, and the closure of organizations opposing the above made demands.

24. We demand freedom of religion for all religious denominations within the state so long as they do not endanger its existence or oppose the moral senses of the Germanic race. The Party as such advocates the standpoint of a positive Christianity without binding itself confessionally to any one denomination. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and around us, and is convinced that a lasting recovery of our nation can only succeed from within on the framework: common utility precedes individual utility.

25. For the execution of all of this we demand the formation of a strong central power in the Reich. Unlimited authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in general. The forming of state and profession chambers for the execution of the laws made by the Reich within the various states of the confederation. The leaders of the Party promise, if necessary by sacrificing their own lives, to support by the execution of the points set forth above without consideration.​

I've bolded the parts that should be extremely appealing to "progressives." We can see some hints about Jews in that platform but there's nothing there which signals Death Camps and mass extermination.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

I would honestly like to think that I would do the same, but I'm not so sure.

Do you charge a person for a war crime because they aren't as courageous as you want to believe you are? Can you honestly say that would be your actions if actually confronted with that situation?
Most people honestly believe they would do the same. Most people, however, would not. The will to live is incredibly powerful. Nobody can say for sure how they would react unless given that choice. Add to that threats to one's own innocent family members, and all bets are off.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

It's easy enough to say you'd make like a superhero as you type away on your keyboard, free from any such threats. I believe that, given the option of saving your own skin along with that of your family's, or taking the life of a complete stranger, most of us would fold in a heartbeat. This is what happened in Germany. I daresay most of the German population were sickened at what they must have known was going on, but turned a blind eye for fear of reprisals. This is always the way of it. No one condones that ****, but everyone's intimidated. Disappearances, torture and murder were daily life. In that situation, the majority will always batten down the hatches and wait out the storm, until someone puts a stop to it. Or until such time as it goes on long enough to provoke revolt.

Delusions of playing Rambo are juvenile and, quite frankly, unconvincing.
Bingo. Not only are the illusions of purity juvenile and unconvincing, it's also revolting.

The percentage of people that would actually do what they say they would do is in the low single digits.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Why the zeal to prosecute former Nazis when we essentially looked the other way and forgave many of the worst participants of Japan's Unit 731? :shrug:
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Bingo. Not only are the illusions of purity juvenile and unconvincing, it's also revolting.

The percentage of people that would actually do what they say they would do is in the low single digits.

It's revolting to not be willing to murder people? That's an umm... interesting moral system.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Bingo. Not only are the illusions of purity juvenile and unconvincing, it's also revolting.

The percentage of people that would actually do what they say they would do is in the low single digits.
They're just acting tough.

Jesus was one in a billion.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

So who gets to decide who was an average soldier and who participated in atrocities? According to modern Germany, if you were stationed at a concentration camp then you are responsible for the atrocities. I don't believe all of the camp guards were volunteers, either, but there is little evidence I can find about this. I did find that a lot more than just the SS were stationed at the camps, though.

Wehrmacht soldiers weren't posted at the camps. They were either SS, or sonderkommandos.

And, yes, when these men are found, they should be prosecuted and put to death.

Now, were all SS troops in on the concentration camps? No, they weren't. Most didn't even know the camps existed.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

It's not a moral system. It's an accurate understanding of the reality of human nature.

"Revolting" is a moral judgment.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

The incessant posturing about what people think they would do is revolting. Not to mention naive.

Well frankly if you find it "revolting" that people have the sense to know that it is evil to murder people, and to express that knowledge, then that's your problem.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Bingo. Not only are the illusions of purity juvenile and unconvincing, it's also revolting.

The percentage of people that would actually do what they say they would do is in the low single digits.

That is nothing to do with this thread...nothing.

The point is should these men be put on trial...not whether others would do the same.

Everyone makes mistakes...but what makes you honorable or not is how you handle those mistakes.

And to say 'forgive and forget' to people that did illegal things (assuming there is enough evidence to convict them) is borderline inhuman, IMO.

Soldiers are under a code of conduct. A moral code that they either swear to or are expected to follow...their fears are irrelevant. Laws don't go like; 'you cannot do such and such unless you are really scared or feel threatened.'.
Sure, they act as mitigating circumstances during sentencing...obviously a guy that just murders someone without any pressure is going to get a stiffer sentence then someone that murders someone under great duress.
But to just wave a blanket over the whole thing and say 'well, even though I have no first-hand knowledge of what went on there...I think that these guards should never be put on trial - no matter what the evidence - because I think it must have been very difficult for them to refuse orders.'.

Disgusting and cowardly.


I have little problem with what soldiers do to other soldiers - within reason. Soldiering is a club to me (which I was once a part of). You join the club and you fight against other 'club' members from other countries. And you all understand going in that there are almost no rules. That if things get desperate enough, you could be killed in the most dishonorable looking circumstances - like shooting unarmed military prisoners.

But we are not talking about soldiers. We are talking about innocent women and children and seniors....civilians. People being eradicated like cockroaches in gigantic numbers for insane reasons.

There is no code in any modern military that allows for soldiers to do that to civilians...none.

And I don't care if the soldiers were threatened or not...(even though people in this thread are saying they were all volunteers)...to just excuse accessory to mass genocide because they were under duress is no excuse and is barbaric.


Now if you people were saying that these soldiers (assuming there is enough evidence) should stand trial and that any pressures they were under should count as a mitigating circumstance...okay, I can live with that.

But many of you are NOT saying that.

Many of you are actually saying that these people should never go on trial. That we should NEVER find out if they actually were guilty or not...regardless of the circumstances.

None if you were there and yet many of you are deciding that these men must never stand trial...no matter what.

What kind if whacko form of law and order is that?

Let's not even look at any cases because the accused probably were under great pressure to do these crimes?

Let's just say to the victims; 'Sorry, but we will not even look at the cases because we feel sorry for the accused...that they obviously were under great strain and should not be held accountable for their actions...whatever they were.'.
'But should we not at least find out who did what before we decide that?'
'No...we are not even going to look at the evidence...we are just going to bury it and move on'.

All these people died in hideous circumstances and many of you just want to let those who were potentially accessories to that crime walk free without even looking at each case.

Screw justice. Screw the victims. Screw honor. Let's just forget about it.

Complete cowardice.

And if that statement offends people....GOOD.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

And since I am being blunt.

I believe - though I cannot prove - that most/all persons that voted 'no' to this poll did so primarily because they are afraid that they too would have just looked the other way under similar circumstances and that they would not want to be tried themselves should they one day find themselves in a like circumstance.

I don't think their objection is from any moral code...it's just a knee-jerk reaction to save their own skins should such a situation arise in their own lives.


Giving into fear is cowardly but completely understandable and forgivable.

Trying to cover up the consequences of your fears is cowardly...period.



'cow·ard [kou-erd]
noun
1.
a person who lacks courage in facing danger, difficulty, opposition, pain, etc.; a timid or easily intimidated person.'

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coward
 
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Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Exaggerations aren't persuasive.

It's not an exaggeration, it is verbatim what is happening. If you had read the article or anything anyone has written here, you'd know that they will convict them of murder regardless of whether they're guilty of anything. Simply being stationed at Auschwitz makes you guilty.

Yes, if an American soldier stood by and did not at some point report it I would hold that soldier accountable. The soldier could not possibly be court martialed for doing so. No German soldier could have been court martialed for refusing to participate at any level. Nor was this rare for German soldiers to do so.

Who are you going to report it to? The fuehrer? So all 7,000 of the people stationed at Auschwitz the military base deserve to be tried of murder because they got orders to go there. Of those 7,000, only 120 were assigned to the gas chambers. But I suspect you don't give a ****. **** them they're Germans right? Who cares if they're actually guilty of anything.

That is nothing to do with this thread...nothing.

The point is should these men be put on trial...not whether others would do the same.

Everyone makes mistakes...but what makes you honorable or not is how you handle those mistakes.

And to say 'forgive and forget' to people that did illegal things (assuming there is enough evidence to convict them) is borderline inhuman, IMO.

Soldiers are under a code of conduct. A moral code that they either swear to or are expected to follow...their fears are irrelevant. Laws don't go like; 'you cannot do such and such unless you are really scared or feel threatened.'.
Sure, they act as mitigating circumstances during sentencing...obviously a guy that just murders someone without any pressure is going to get a stiffer sentence then someone that murders someone under great duress.
But to just wave a blanket over the whole thing and say 'well, even though I have no first-hand knowledge of what went on there...I think that these guards should never be put on trial - no matter what the evidence - because I think it must have been very difficult for them to refuse orders.'.

Disgusting and cowardly.


I have little problem with what soldiers do to other soldiers - within reason. Soldiering is a club to me (which I was once a part of). You join the club and you fight against other 'club' members from other countries. And you all understand going in that there are almost no rules. That if things get desperate enough, you could be killed in the most dishonorable looking circumstances - like shooting unarmed military prisoners.

But we are not talking about soldiers. We are talking about innocent women and children and seniors....civilians. People being eradicated like cockroaches in gigantic numbers for insane reasons.

There is no code in any modern military that allows for soldiers to do that to civilians...none.

And I don't care if the soldiers were threatened or not...(even though people in this thread are saying they were all volunteers)...to just excuse accessory to mass genocide because they were under duress is no excuse and is barbaric.


Now if you people were saying that these soldiers (assuming there is enough evidence) should stand trial and that any pressures they were under should count as a mitigating circumstance...okay, I can live with that.

But many of you are NOT saying that.

Many of you are actually saying that these people should never go on trial. That we should NEVER find out if they actually were guilty or not...regardless of the circumstances.

None if you were there and yet many of you are deciding that these men must never stand trial...no matter what.

What kind if whacko form of law and order is that?

Let's not even look at any cases because the accused probably were under great pressure to do these crimes?

Let's just say to the victims; 'Sorry, but we will not even look at the cases because we feel sorry for the accused...that they obviously were under great strain and should not be held accountable for their actions...whatever they were.'.
'But should we not at least find out who did what before we decide that?'
'No...we are not even going to look at the evidence...we are just going to bury it and move on'.

All these people died in hideous circumstances and many of you just want to let those who were potentially accessories to that crime walk free without even looking at each case.

Screw justice. Screw the victims. Screw honor. Let's just forget about it.

Complete cowardice.

And if that statement offends people....GOOD.

Since you're back and calling the straw men you invented cowards, I'll step back in as well. Almost everyone here believes that people that have committed war crimes should be charged with those war crimes. However, you, and the German government, have taken it a step further, and decided to charge people with war crimes for being stationed at a base with war criminals.

For some reason you don't give a flying rat's ass whether they actually had anything at all to do with the murders, you only seem to care that if they were one of the 7,000 soldiers at Auschwitz during the 1940's, then **** them. As long as we're talking about cowardice, convicting potentially innocent men of murder with no regard to facts is the epitome of cowardice.

Tell me, what exactly is the difference between a German soldier at Auschwitz and a prisoner? Both were taken from their homes by the German government, against their will, and sent to Auschwitz. If you think that alone is enough to be charged with so serious of a crime, you're hardly better than the Nazis.
 
Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Sorry, I mentioned two genocidal countries: Nazi Deutchland and Serbia. Both have been murdering civilians and at various times had various powers.

Can you please be more specific so as I can understand you better? Which country, with which people in power, at what time, is no longer in power now (they cannot be for 70 years has passed), hence this persecution of Nazies (hope you mean them?) did not took place before?

In the case of Yugoslawia I have not followed the aftermath closely enough to know how it has been handled. My impression has been that it was spotty, but I don't know.
In Germany, on the other hand, I followed it relatively closely. As I have related in another thread the handling of criminals from the Nazi period was rather unenthusiastic at best. There were prosecutions. But usually there were none and the involvement of individuals and organizations were treated discreetly and mention of such involvement was severely discouraged as long as the people were in place whose carriers were thanks to Gehlen's and Filbinger's generation. This went as far as refusing repatriation of Nazi documents impounded and removed after the war. Soldiers, politicians, judges, police, spys or mds kept their jobs and extended their careers. The father of a friend had run one of the main extermination hospitals for the handicapped during the execution of that program. He ran it after the war and prospered until his retirement.

Of course there can be no simple answer to what to do, when practically the whole population and elite were involved or so close to heinous crime. What for instance do you do, when every large company used slaves that had to be regularly replaced after having used them up and exterminated. The police had helped herd the Jews to the cattle cars and the judges and mayors had hanged people for having had sex with slaves or feeding vagrant Jews. What do you do?
 
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Re: Should German WWII vets be arrested?

Well frankly if you find it "revolting" that people have the sense to know that it is evil to murder people, and to express that knowledge, then that's your problem.
You're being obtuse. Willfully, I believe, but obtuse nonetheless. Recognizing the realities of human natures foes not, in any way,shape, or form, equate to approving of said behavior. My comments have everything to do with the realities of human nature, and absolutely zero to do with appropriateness of the topic.
 
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