Auschwitz guard charged

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by Tribesman

The important thing with the shoah is "Never Forget".
At a time when you have in certain parts of Europe political parties which follow the ideology of the 3rd reich gaining votes. and at a time when we have supposedly normal rational people wanting to strip people of rights solely on the grounds of their ethnicity, forgetting the past is not a very wise thing to do.

In 2009 a shaft full of bones was discovered near Huda Jama, bones from post-war killings by the partizans. The discovery almost caused a civil war, news were filled by it, left and right camps had all the ammunition needed to drag the entire nation down with them. And they did. 50 000 people lost they're jobs in that one single year and all they bickered about was a war that ended 50 years earlier.

WW2 is not mentioned fondly here. Or with pride. We didn't went trough an occupation alone, we started a civil war at the same time. For someone not red or white here, just the mention of that war makes them shout back: ECONOMY, TODAY, STUPID. !!!

The money used to convict an oldtimer could be better spent reforming the country, education and economy, so voters will have no wish voting for the far right/left.

[Von Tonner]

I have to disagree with those who say what is the point. Money wasted, etc, etc.

Let us for example, imagine that Osama bin Laden had NOT been found and executed. He was after all very clever at avoiding capture and had a good support base to ensure that he was not found.

But found he was. And had he not? But found when he was on old man of 99 years, confined to a wheelchair blowing bubbles? Would anyone here in this thread advocate to let him live out his life peacefully and not harm a hair on his head.

Sorry, in my book it is his head I would want stuck on the nearest pole regardless of age.

And if others feel that that makes me vengeful so be it. I can live with it.

[Flamebatter90]

Waste of time and money considering how tiny his role was in the Holocaust. Let him live his last few remaining years in peace.

[u crank]

I think the best possible use for Mr. Oskar Groening's remaining years would be as a living witness against the holocaust deniers. As long as he is alive their case is suspect.

[Von Tonner]

Originally Posted by u crank

I think the best possible use for Mr. Oskar Groening's remaining years would be as a living witness against the holocaust deniers. As long as he is alive their case is suspect.

You are quite correct. And that is the base on the line "Lest we forget".

It matters not on how low down the pecking order this guy was. As I said in a previous post if he was a card carrying member of the Nazi party he is as guilty as the head honcho of that party.

A trial would keep alive in memory to those following that crimes against humanity will be punished REGARDLESS. And, under the harsh evidence brought to court in the charge, denounce the absurd claims made by some that the holocaust is a figment of imagination.

[Dan D]

No big news here in Germany. I read about it for first time here on subsim and then checked the German media. Seems, the guy's job was to search the luggage of the people at the death ramp for valuable goods. That is aiding to murder in a legal sense, even more so, when you consider that he and his comrades took away the luggage from the ramp so that newcomers would not get suspicious about what is going on. Taking a shower at Auschwitz. That is what the prosecution says.

What speaks in favour of the guy, apart from his age which raises the question, is he even able to understand what is going on in his trial, does his medical state allow to put him in jail or is he better off in a hospice?, is that he himself revealed his knowledge and made and eyewitness-account to historians (and gave interviews to the BBC).