96 Year Old Former Nazi Arrested - Necessary?

fmdog44

fmdog44

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Location
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96-year-old who went on the run to skip Nazi war crimes trial arrested in Germany (nbcnews.com)
With all the respect to the Nazi hunters and to the millions of victims is prosecuting this women necessary? What does it accomplish? Is this vengeance or justice? I'll edit and add she was a clerk and is charged with "assisting" in the killings. Don't forget how many directly liked to murder walked away scot free many of which move to America.
 

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fmdog44 said:
96-year-old who went on the run to skip Nazi war crimes trial arrested in Germany (nbcnews.com)
With all the respect to the Nazi hunters and to the millions of victims is prosecuting this women necessary? What does it accomplish? Is this vengeance or justice?
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I find it hard to believe that anyone would need to ask the question you pose. If you "contributed as an 18-year-old to the murder of 11,412 people" would you expect to be let off scot-free?
 

I understand what you're asking and no, prosecuting her and sentencing her will not do anything in terms of real justice to her for what she's alleged to have done but she MUST be prosecuted because of what she is alleged to have done and for those victims she may have had a hand in terminating. It would fly in the face of human justice if she were not prosecuted regardless of her age.

In terms of justice for her, if she hasn't already been beating herself up since then mentally then there's no punishment the courts could deal out that would make her suffer and besides, she'll be dead in short order anyway.
 
It is interesting how our attitudes on this have changed. A lot of the convicted Nazis who did not hang were released after a few years in prison (see https://www.timesofisrael.com/histo...te-number-of-convictions-for-nazi-war-crimes/ ). And as a kid in the 60s I remember a news story that claimed Hitler was still alive in Latin America somewhere. And at the time I heard people saying things like he's just a harmless old man now, let sleeping dogs lie.

I think today's instinct to go after these people and prosecute to the full extent of the law is right, but its not exactly what people thought in the past. Not sure why.
 
fmdog44 said:
You are disillusioned because you don't know the facts of those accused and how they were never prosecuted.
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That is not disillusionment, when facts aren't available, prosecution will not occur. Just because one is accused does not indicate that there is guilt. Allegations flew fast and furious during and after the war ended. Some were proven, many were not. This case apparently has merit or no one would bother.
 
If she is such a monster as some here claim why did it take 77 years to capture this typist? Don't forget how many German citizens knew exactly what was going on. There is nothing to be gained by prosecuting after nearly eight decades. "We were only following orders" and under Nazi rule if you dared sway from them you were killed.
 
fmdog44 said:
If she is such a monster as some here claim why did it take 77 years to capture this typist? Don't forget how many German citizens knew exactly what was going on.
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Yeah, many of the guilty got away with it. With so many guilty it was hard, maybe something like the South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission would have worked?
fmdog44 said:
There is nothing to be gained by prosecuting after nearly eight decades.
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I think there is, its just the principal that we don't let mass murderers go no matter what. Not a bad thing.
 
Alligatorob said:
Yeah, many of the guilty got away with it. With so many guilty it was hard, maybe something like the South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission would have worked?

I think there is, its just the principal that we don't let mass murderers go no matter what. Not a bad thing.
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First, it's not we it's Germany. Second, many of the Nazi mass murderers were let go to go on to pursue careers here in the United States working on chemical warfare and rockets and to work as police and political officials in Germany. I never heard of anyone creating mass murder with a typewriter. Were the cooks, janitors, housekeepers and administrative personnel charged was well? The answer is "no."
 
RadishRose said:
According to the Times of Israel:
"The trial is taking place in a youth court as she was aged between 18 and 19 at the time."

"The last guilty verdict was issued to former SS guard Bruno Dey, who was handed a two-year suspended sentence in July at the age of 93."

https://www.timesofisrael.com/forme...6-renanded-in-custody-after-going-on-the-run/
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Justice with mercy is what I would choose. A swift trial followed by a suspended sentence would suffice in this case. She had no real power when she was young and she has none in her hundredth decade of life. Her culpability is not such that she needs to be killed. Confiscate her assets if she has any and donate them to a Jewish charity if more punishment is called for.
 
She was a Typist? Someone who typed out the orders of others? Guess I need some other crime she committed.

During Vietnam, I loaded many thousand pounds of bombs to be dropped on both the enemy and civilians.
Should I be held responsible? I live with that role everyday of my life and ask myself how many innocents did I affect?

Easy to sit back now and ask for justice.

A Typist?
 
fmdog44 said:
If she is such a monster as some here claim why did it take 77 years to capture this typist? Don't forget how many German citizens knew exactly what was going on. There is nothing to be gained by prosecuting after nearly eight decades. "We were only following orders" and under Nazi rule if you dared sway from them you were killed.
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The "only following orders" defense didn't fly at Nuremberg, if you'll recall, nor in subsequent trials of former Nazis.

And the reason it has taken so long to apprehend some people is that many ran, and/or assumed other identities in South America and even the US. There are some of the most evil of them who were never caught -- the unspeakably evil Dr. Mengele comes to mind.

As to this woman's guilt or innocence, let's let the German courts decide.

I think the benefit of continuing to prosecute former Nazis is so that the unbelievable atrocities committed (they didn't just kill, after all, they imprisoned, tortured, committed unspeakably cruel and horrific medical "experiments" upon, and set out to systematically destroy an entire ethnic group as well as anybody else they didn't think lived up to their idea of what a perfect human specimen should be) will never be allowed to fade from human memory. What they did still matters. It will always matter.
 
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