Nazi trials and Demanjuk

Politics International Politics
1

theglobeandmail.com/news/wor … le2020454/

this is an interesting case, I had not known some specifics of the case: that Demanjuk was a Ukranian who escaped Stalin, was captured by Nazi army, and maybe would have died if he hadn’t volunteered to be a camp guard at a concentration camp. Does this make him a Nazi, or as the court would say, a party to the mass murder. I don’t know, I think under the circumstances, perhaps not. and the article is keen to point out, rightly so, that many many Nazis who were USEFUL to the Allies and the Soviets, were NEVER prosecuted, but even became national heroes (Werner von Braun, who had been dogged by rumours of using slave labour in the rocket program, knowingly). It’s just that Demanjuk is a nobody, and so he’s free game. Isn’t that what’s going on?

2

You would think the defense was arguing this. Unbelievable. What the hell else was the guy going to do given that choice. Christ, he’s had this hanging over him for 60 years, I think he’s paid his dues.

I think it’s time they brought the Nazi hunt to an end. Let these old fuckers die in their own piss rather than pamper them in a prison.

If there’s a movie Jack Nicholson should get the part.

3

My mother and grandmother were both refugees from Nazi-occupied Austria, and two of my mother’s aunts died in concentration camps. Regarding Demanjuk, from what I have read I think the case against him is very weak. I say drop the charges and let him live out the rest of his life in peace.

4

That depends on whether or not he is Ivan the Terrible. If he is, this was too little, too late.

There is a need for justice.

5

[quote=“Got To Be Kidding”]That depends on whether or not he is Ivan the Terrible. If he is, this was too little, too late.

There is a need for justice.[/quote]

He’s been acquitted of that, I believe.

6

[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“Got To Be Kidding”]That depends on whether or not he is Ivan the Terrible. If he is, this was too little, too late.

There is a need for justice.[/quote]

He’s been acquitted of that, I believe.[/quote]

Well, I certainly hope that he ISN’T Ivan the Terrible. However, his acquittal by the Israel High Court was not a vindication. Remember that he was initially judged guilty, and it was that High Court that overturned the conviction because the evidence was deemed to be insufficiently conclusive.

My only point is that someone like Ivan the Terrible SHOULD suffer the full weight of justice, no matter how old he is.

And, I’m sorry. The guy didn’t HAVE to become a camp guard. He had choices to make, and like most Germans/Poles/Ukrainians/etc. he chose badly.

The camps were evil. The guards at the camps made that evil possible.

7

[quote=“Got To Be Kidding”][quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“Got To Be Kidding”]That depends on whether or not he is Ivan the Terrible. If he is, this was too little, too late.

There is a need for justice.[/quote]

He’s been acquitted of that, I believe.[/quote]

Well, I certainly hope that he ISN’T Ivan the Terrible. However, his acquittal by the Israel High Court was not a vindication. Remember that he was initially judged guilty, and it was that High Court that overturned the conviction because the evidence was deemed to be insufficiently conclusive.

My only point is that someone like Ivan the Terrible SHOULD suffer the full weight of justice, no matter how old he is.

And, I’m sorry. The guy didn’t HAVE to become a camp guard. He had choices to make, and like most Germans/Poles/Ukrainians/etc. he chose badly.

The camps were evil. The guards at the camps made that evil possible.[/quote]

well, as I iterated, I was basing it on the facts as presented by the article. if those facts are wrong, inaccurate or incomplete, then I concede my reasoning would be weak.

secondly, is it true that he didn’t HAVE to become a camp guard? I dunno. the facts don’t really say. you and I are conjecturing. Were the slave labourers who built all this stuff (many Soviet POWs) also “evil”?

Remember that Jewish kid who was mistaken for being aryan and became part of the HitlerJugend, later part of the army and then defence of Berlin… was he “evil” because that’s what he did to escape?

On the other hand, I want to be clear, I’m not offering the “I was following orders” defense. guess I will have to go back to my original caveat, which is I’d like to know more about the facts.

8

My mother was in the Bund Deutscher Maedel (League of German Girls - girl’s Hitler Youth). Membership was obligatory for everyone of her age. Then they found out she was half Jewish and she got booted out. History usually isn’t as straightforward as we would like to imagine.

9

Just read a book about a german “order police” reserve police battalion involved in the holocaust in poland. they mentioned those with 2 jewish grandparents could serve in the police as late as 1942, and with one, until 1943.

10

Taking a microscope out and focusing on individual situations fails to address the issue.

Nazi Germany is an example of how a democratic nation can willingly become a murderous dictatorship. And make no mistake. Every German who did nothing helped make Hitler happen.

There is a price for freedom, and I see very few people today willing to pay it.