Nazi war criminal suspect deported to Germany

[hereidrawtheline]

here

This makes me sad. I of course cant know if he is guilty or not, and if he is then it is fair enough. But it makes me sad because, what if he was forced to do these things? I dont know if that happened much but it seems likely. "Do this or you die too" Going along with it would make him a coward, yes, but probably already spent a life racked with guilt. I dont know. You cant know I guess without hard evidence which I hope the court is able to obtain one way or another.

I havent followed this story completely so I am sure I am missing a lot of facts. The unknown just opens up a lot of worries for me.

I lived in Germany for 16 years and am married to a German.

Generally, the opinion in Germany seems to be that there were some people who were "forced" to commit acts of war but those who were in higher positions, in the concentration camps were fully aware of their actions.

My DH's grandfather was called up near the end of the war and spent 2 years fighting in Russia and was then a POW for several years before walking home to Germany. He rarely spoke about the things that he had witnessed. I feel sorry for people like that, not for someone like Demjanjuk.

I would rather have died than be a Nazi.

Right. I guess that is what I needed explained to me. I dont know if concentration camp guards were in the "forced" arena or not. I can imagine how someone forced to do things in collusion with the Nazi's would suffer a life of guilt.

AlistairSim I am with you on that, I am not trying to excuse him. As I said I dont know all the facts. But what of the women who slept with Nazi officers to ensure their family's safety. I am just saying, people like that you wouldnt want to condemn to death as they were a victim as well. It may not be what we would have done but we have the benefit of hindsight which they did not. And you just dont know what you will do for survival and love until you are in that position.

But if in this case he was "happy" to go along then by all means punish. I am talking about the poor people who may have been forced.

There were people who were forced to do things that they would normally not do, but these people did not become members of the SS, as Demjanjuk has been proven to have done.

I would say that many Germans were guilty of closing their eyes, of not looking deeper into what was going on around them. Because they were frightened or because they were persuaded not to look.

This is not the story of a normal person who was coerced into sleeping with the enemy, or into revealing the whereabouts of a Jew in hiding.

The fact that America revoked Demjanjuk's citizenship and that both Germany and Israel would like to get him before a court, tells us that they have very clear evidence against him.

Yes, you are right. And I am sorry if it seemed I was in any way excusing people who went along with that atrocity. I really wasnt. Willing blindness is a crime as well and for it a lot of people (all over the world) have to answer for (wrt a lot of issues)

I agree it seems in this case he should be punished.

the pope was in the hitler youth