Posted on 02/21/2014 7:08:04 PM PST by rickmichaels
BERLIN — In a series of home raids, Germany has arrested three men — aged 88, 92 and 94 — suspected of being former SS guards at the Auschwitz death camp.
The three elderly men underwent medical tests and then faced a judge who confirmed their fitness to be detained in a prison hospital, prosecutors said in a statement Thursday.
The men were suspected of having served as Auschwitz SS guards from 1942 to 1944 and of having participated in murders at the Nazis’ extermination camp in occupied Poland, where more than 1 million people were killed in the Second World War.
The three men lived in the south-western state of Baden-Württemberg, said prosecutors in the city of Stuttgart.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
If I recall in the Daniel Goldhagen’s book Hitler’s willing Executioner’s there was not one record of any of the ordinary civilians or non-SS military guards refusing to work at the camps. Apparently they were given the opportunity to turn down the work when they were drafted or volunteered for camp duty. Excellent records were kept by the Germans and Goldhagen asserted there were no records of any refusals. Most were just ordinary people (or other foreign prisoners - often the cruelest) that went back to everyday life after the war. Goldhagen’s book is controversial because it paints a twisted picture of humanity and by association the average German citizen. Solzehnitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago or Alexander Dolgun’s story: An American in the Gulag paints just as bleak and twisted picture of many of the guards and interrogators in the Soviet Union. People don’t want to admit it but through an often decades long process of subverting a culture and people through propaganda and lies has an affect both collectively and individually that few will acknowledge after the wreckage and evil that often defies credulity.
It took Germany THAT long to find these clowns?
Something not very kosher.
Really?
Communist crimes have gone unpunished.
It's an interesting question... but it has a simple answer.
First, the organizers of the Red Terror. They were killed by their second in command, and that process was repeated several times. Yagoda, Ezhov, Beria were all killed by their replacements. The final replacements had relatively clean hands, since it was already 1954 or so. Khruschev and a few other Stalin's associates were directly responsible for thousands of deaths, as they signed execution orders. But after they were gone, the next generation had no such liabilities.
Second, the guards. USSR had conscripts serving for several (two?) years. They were rotated, and many soldiers went through the guard duty. Besides, they were not told who they guard - and their superiors made sure that the convicts do not talk to the guards. (It's always trouble.)
Additionally, the guards in GULAG were generally not involved in mass killings (those were done by NKVD officers, in prisons.) GULAG was a system of prison camps in very inhospitable areas. The guards were not responsible for doctors, weather, adequate food, housing, or work quotas. Often guards were minimally required because convicts could not escape the camp - there was nothing outside for hundreds of miles but snow, terrible cold, wolves and bears. The convicts, malnourished and not equipped, could escape only if they preferred to die in a snow bank just a mile away from the barracks. On the other hand, if they stayed they had a chance (20-30%?) to survive. As result, the guards were not particularly guilty of any atrocities; and they couldn't even refuse to serve, unless they wished to become convicts themselves.
The blame for Red Terror is universally assigned to the Communists who organized it all - Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin - and their henchmen, and their underlings who performed arrests, questioning, torture and executions. That's my understanding of history, and it may be wrong.
They’re statistics at this point.
By the way...
http://www.valorstudios.com/franz-stigler-photos-and-video.htm
Watching the breadth and speed of decay of todays American society, do you think if Christians were outlawed TODAY, that ordinary liberals of todays society would be any different?
Were the 6 million Jews and 5 million non-Jewish convicted?
And then there are some who get a free pass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxujYNp2q10
My guess would be the the so-called intelligentsia in America and Europe (almost entirely liberal-leftists) are not interested in the crimes of their fellow progressives.
Remember many of these clowns supported the Communist's philosophy or had parents or mentors that did. It has always been my contention that had western Europe or the US fallen to Communism that many of these same "liberals" would have been the commissars, Kapos, camp guards and administrators who would have re-educated or shot the anti-communists.
That is a stupid question sir, but I will still explain it, so listen up. I was in California prisons from 1988 to 2013. In a few cases, certainly not a majority, but some, who had outlived relatives, were in their 70s, 80s and 90s, who had many physical problems, who did not want to get out, because they had no support system. There was one 94 year old criminal, who had served his time, and though he begged prison authorities not to let him out, they put him at the gate and told him to go away. In a day or two, he took a header off a bridge. There were quite a few criminals, who were better off in prison than they were on the streets. They don't worry about food, clothing, shelter and medical care. Do they necessarily like it? No, they don't like it even a little, they just put up with the garbage, in exchange for the security. It is a trade off. Some feel this way, some don't. Any more questions?
The men in Germany were taken from their homes,they were not inmates. I very much doubt that prison would be their preference.
.
How come the gulag guards were never arrested?
American GIs never rounded them up.
I had criminals tell me straight up, they violated parole on purpose. They did not want another beef, but just did enough to get violated, so they could come back in prison for 6 or 7 months, to get some good food, gain some weight, get medical care, and a chance to get off the drugs. It was a revolving door. There was not enough to deter them from doing this. Three hots, a cot and medical care. As I said, they don't like it, but for some, it is the only security they know. Pretty sad I would say.
A few thoughts here if I may. I might mention that I myself was on the receiving end of a little bit of terror bombing in that war. Horrible to find out just who started the terror bombing. (laughs). Herewith my little homily.
The German people have been the object of much vilification of their forbears. True, many of their ancestors probably bloomin' well deserve all the things said about them. Still, the outrage of those who suffered and indeed their children included, seems to be dumped on the heads of Germans today.
How awful this must be for the Germans. Most of them born after the war of 1939-1945. The Germans had a thoroughness with which the British always attributed to them - even during both world wars. The Germans then react with an obvious intent, to show the world just how much they are filled with revulsion about the crimes of WW2.
No doubt they do not have the capacity to put themselves in the shoes of those they now charge. No doubt they all do declare as 'ow they would 'ave stood up to 'itler, if they were living at the time.
Few people today in Germany, could know the bone chilling fear felt by the average person. That fear of the Gestapo and other psychopathic authorities
Not so sure about that. These "revelations", whether in Germany or here in the US, occur with surprising regularity, don't they?
They seem designed to reinforce in the public mind how evil the Nazis were by bringing it to the public attention, again and again, while the even more brutal Soviet regime is completely ignored. I do not think this is by accident.
You are correct.
The Soviet Union “fell.” But many Communists moved into Western Europe and took over Greenpeace and other environmental groups. The Democrat party has been RED since 1968-72. The University Left in the U.S.—who are out-and-out Bolsheviks—got one of their own into the White House.
The Cold War is going on right now. And we are losing because only the TEA Party—and how many of them?—realize it.
Your compassion and understanding takes my breath away.
I gained a new insight from you tonight, but I’m still mad and not forgiving.
May our good Lord forever bless and keep you and everyone you love, dearest Peter Libra.
What about the Ukrainians like Demjanjuk? I don’t think they had much of a choice.
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