He. Was. Never. Punished. For. His. Crimes.
In fact, to hear this old cunt tell it, he never "technically" did anything wrong since he wasn't giving orders or pulling triggers/opening valves. Fuck him. He deserves worse.
He was a POW for some time, and the German people went through hell after WWII. Germany wouldn't be what it is today if they were just let off easy. They weren't. Like I said, society had its chance to punish, specifically, him, right after the war. They didn't. It's pointless to bring something to him now, when he's gonna fall over any moment. They are trying to right that wrong after so many years, when everything has changed, and the impact doesn't exist. Like I said, nothing will come of this, that's good. Only misplaced "justice."
Jewish gaffers would be different from him
they'd be in a ditch on top of their parents
This is very loaded. Yes the Holocaust was one of the worst things in history. Never gave the impression or even a hint that I thought otherwise. I get that this is insinuating I'm not thinking about the impact it had on those involved. That I'm not thinking about the people who were hurt or killed. That's simply not the case. Yes, their lives and hardships are relevant to this case, but I still have some serious misgivings.
Why pass this law, now of all times? Why not when there was millions of ex-Nazis alive, and not just a few? At that point, maybe it would have been justice. Now it's easy to arrest people because there is so few. Instead of admitting that there was a much larger problem with Nazi Germany than individual people, we can now pick at them, and pretend it was. Now that there is few left, it's feasible, and we can feel better about ourselves. That part just feels very distasteful to me.
I think people are also taking all this anger and hatred about the Holocaust and Nazis, and placing it on this guy, as if it will do something. Sorry, but punishing an old guy who was swept into a propaganda machine as a child, isn't going to fix anything. What you have is an old man, 70 years removed from what he was. He's trying to do what he can by outing himself and speaking against Holocaust deniers. What's more damaging to their arguments, than someone who was alive at a camp, who admits to some responsibility?
I do admit, though, the situation isn't perfect. However, there is more to it than just Nazis and the Holocaust and this is my main point: You are getting nothing out of this. Absolutely nothing. There is no justice in locking up someone who is going to keel over at any moment, who is a different person. There should be a strong case for locking someone up. There should be a very strong, and practical reason for doing so. This seems to me, like people are punishing this guy, as if they think they can be some last hero of WWII, 70 years after. Like they can correct some wrong by doing it. You can't. Your just gonna add another wrong. Justice is righting something that is morally wrong, but it's impossible to do something right, when correcting it is, in itself, wrong.
Anyway, I feel like I'm repeating my other posts. Almost didn't reply and just sat on this for a long time, but decided to, in the end. This is my last reply, as I don't think there is much conversation to be had. I'm not the only one repeating myself. I just feel like there is something disrespectful about all of this. It's not about accomplishing something, it's about trying to partake in the past and give your own input, when the past, is in the past. Things have changed, and you can't make everything like it was. Things are more complicated, and partaking in this is destructive. I would like to note, if they instead made it mandatory for him to speak about what he did, and the terrors of the holocaust, I'd be perfectly fine with it. Prison is too much.
