Posted on 06/08/2011 10:52:30 AM PDT by mainestategop
AMSTERDAM — The mayor of a Dutch town says a 96-year-old woman has confessed to killing a prominent citizen in 1946 after mistakenly believing he collaborated with the Nazis.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
They also cannot prosecute her because it happened a long time ago. This is very tragic. May God Bless Felix Gulje for his heroic deeds during the second world war. I heard it said that the talmud says, If a man takes one life it is as if he murdered the entire world. But if a man saves one life its as if he saved the entire world.
Horrible things happen during war. This is a good example of why we shouldn’t take the law into our own hands, no matter how tempting it may seem at the time.
IIRC, Leiden is where the Pilgrims lived before setting off for the New World.
If a man takes one life it is as if he murdered the entire world. But if a man saves one life its as if he saved the entire world.
And in the midst of brokenness, redemption. Love that quote.
They aren’t going to prosecute. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the woman’s shoes (hiding Jews, giving money etc) and then thinking the person at your door is a Nazi sent to kill you. All I can say is it seems like she has admitted her role (although many years later). Strange case to me.
Not that I don’t symathize with the situation but what does the following tell you about european culture. “They also cannot prosecute her because it happened a long time ago”.
In this nation murder has no limit of prosecution.
Felix Gulje is in good hands.
The lady, however, better make her peace, fast!
I don’t condone what this woman did but I can understand the barbarity that provoked it. We in this country have no clue as to the hell the people of occupied Europe endured.
Most of Europe has no statute of limitations for murder.
The limitation was changed in 2006, but this happened before so it falls under the old.
She might not HAVE to go to prison but she absolutely HAS to be arrested and tried. Murder is murder. The man is still dead after 65 years. She is still guilty after 65 years the time span should not change anything. Not prosecuting her because it happen so long ago is liberal crap.
“Not prosecuting her because it happen so long ago is liberal crap.” No it is the law, following the law is what is right.
...Or that she has already made her peace, and is trying to do what she can at this late stage.
The story says:"After disclosing her role, Ridder-Visser met two grandchildren of her victim last month to explain what happened and why she did it, the mayor said. He did not disclose details of that conversation."
I for one, will not stand in judgement. I hope and pray that she has made peace with God, and that he extends his grace and mercy to her.
She's 96. Maybe she's lived that long, because she needed that long to make her peace. Maybe, just maybe, God wanted her to make peace with him, and then give her enough time to make peace with the family.
Agree with you on all points, but would also caveat that in the wake of evil that descended upon Europe during the war, some reactions to it have to be understood in context. In "Band OF Brothers" there's a scene set in the immediate post-war Austrian Alps where some of the soldiers go to a small mountain cabin seeking somebody who has been identified to them as a senior Nazi officer. They end up shooting and killing him, and as they ride away from the scene they are left convincing themselves that they did the right thing; however, it's never really resolved if the guy was in fact an officer, a patsy underling, or altogether innocent.
Obviously, the victim in this story was not a collaborator, but I'm left to wonder about what information led the lady to believe he was. Certainly, if there was information suggesting he was, that should have been vetted in a legal proceeding, but without knowing what all this woman had been through at the hands of the nazis, and what evidence she had to believe her victim was working with them, I'd be hard-pressed to condemn her outright.
I hope she has found peace and that she gets mercy, too.
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