Posted on 04/29/2016 5:46:09 AM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
A 94-year-old former SS sergeant admitted in court Friday that he had served as an Auschwitz death camp guard, apologizing to Nazi Holocaust survivors looking on in a German courtroom that even though he was aware Jews were being gassed and their corpses burned, he did nothing to try to stop it.
Reinhold Hanning told the Detmould state court that he had never spoken about his service in Auschwitz from January 1942 to June 1944, even to his family, but wanted to use his trial as an opportunity to set the record straight.
"I want to say that it disturbs me deeply that I was part of such a criminal organization," he said as he sat in a wheelchair, talking with a weak voice into a microphone. "I am ashamed that I saw injustice and never did anything about it and I apologize for my actions. I am very, very sorry."
(Excerpt) Read more at ctvnews.ca ...
Seriously....what could he have done? Anything he did would have resulted in his immediate execution.
And maybe even a worse pursuit of the thing that he had tried to stop, just to rub it in others’ faces.
But okay, say he could have sneaked people out, as many did. How many people sneaked out atones for how many killed while he was there?
Revenge can walk away with us if we are not careful.
Except for the fact that he wore the 'death's head' on his uniform collar. That right there is proof of his volunterring for the assignment. It's what the SS did. He knew. And now should pay for his crime.
The martyr in me says "So what? Better to be executed resisting evil than to conspire with it by your silence."
Which is all fine to say 71 years after the fact and from the comfort of my easy chair. Would I have had the courage? To be honest, I doubt it.
Nothing was forced on him by the Nazi regime. He could easily have volunteered for front line service. No German military personnel were ever court-martialed for refusing to kill Jews. He wanted a relatively cushy and safe post. Saying he's sorry now is meaningless.
And there you have it.
History does not look favorably on those who were “just following orders” but when you follow orders or get shot you are damed either way.
THAT IS WHY YOU HAVE TO KEEP EVIL MEN OUT OF OFFICE
And the most evil are usually those who want total government control of everything.
I think Bernie Sanders is more stupid than evil, but some of his followers look like they would eagerly shovel conservatives into gas chambers
Yes. That was a great one!
Trying to stop it would’ve meant a bullet to his head. I can only imagine in horror what it must’ve been like to be helpless in his situation IF he was sympathetic and a non Nazi believer.
That is a huge stretch.
Didn’t realize that. Here’s your blindfold sir, would you like a cigarette?
Exactly. If he had written a note of opposition to The Final Solution, stuffed it in his pocket and then assassinated the kommandant of whatever camp he worked in, who would have ever noticed or heard of it? Even today?
Not so. No German military personnel were ever court-martialed, much less executed, for refusing to kill Jews. They would have just transferred him elsewhere if had a crisis of conscience.
Understand how ya feel except that SS selection was a grueling process to join and remain .... It wasn’t a standard Mk 1, Mod 0 grunt outfit. This bastard and his death head wearing brethren were volunteers in SS-Totenkopfverbände ....they knew going in what their mission was. All murdering trash are “sorry” when caught ..... no excuses in my opinion.
“The Japan approach of America worked a lot better. By all means however drastic suppress the revolt, but then forgive.”
A lesser known fact is that approximately 900 former Japanese civilian and military officials were executed after the war, including Hirota and Tojo among a group of seven who were hanged in 1948 after a Nuremberg-style trial.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/japanese-war-criminals-hanged-in-tokyo
And you know this how?
NO German personnel?
/bingo
Great comment.
It seems the best they can do is accept his apology. Most of them deny it to the bitter end.
Apparently he not only volunteered for front line service, he was wounded there . . . so much so that when he recovered, his request to return to his combat unit was denied. That all might be B.S., but it is probably documented.
True what you say.
Personal conversation with noted historian Gerhard Weinberg. I challenge you to find an example in the historical record where this occurred. German personnel who refused to kill Jews were either assigned other duties or transferred to other units.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.