94 Year Old Former Guard At Auschwitz Jailed

[johnmc]

How does this work? Surely he was just following orders. Say the Gulf war was deemed illegal, could a British soldier do time of he killed an Iraqi soldier then?

Also what were the consequences of him not doing as he was told?

 

[stony]

Why has it taken 50years to imprison him?

He was probably really good at hiding.

 

[TonyM]

lol

 

[Bigg Bigg Blue]

At least he was allowed to reach 94 unlike all those poor souls that met a horrible death at the hands of the loons that ran the camps.

Death is to good for him.

 

[daztrueblue91]

I visited Auschwitz a few months back and it's impossible to even contemplate just how bad the atrocities that were carried out there were.

I know the Nazi ideology was to treat the Jewish race as sub-human, but you wouldn't even treat rats the way the Jews, Gypsies and Poles were treated at Auschwitz. It was IMO the worst episode in human history and it's vital that society does not forget what happened during the Holocaust.

There's a famous quote by George Santanya inside the entrance of one of the blocks in Auschwitz main camp which says "Those that forget the past are condemned to repeat it in the future". It's fitting because despite having a history degree and studying the Holocaust at length, I came away from the camp feeling that I knew less about the place than before I entered it.

Anyone who was involved at Auschwitz should be held accountable no matter their age.

 

[malg]

No, he shouldn't have been jailed.

 

[Helmet Cole]

I'm not saying he deserves nothing, but locking him up now is just about punishment and vengeance. No one can honestly think its to protect society from a dangerous man or to rehabilitate him which are the stated aims of the penal system in most civilised countries. I personally think its fine that he dies behind bars and alone, but frankly that's not much different to most folk that age that end their days in care homes.

 

[Fourinarow]

I went to Auschwitz a couple of years ago and have been pretty fascinated ever since, and can't make my mind up about this guy.
It feels like he had to do whatever he had to do there to survive himself, as a 20 year old. He'd be shot otherwise.
Yes, he's sorry for what he was part of, but he's been able to live his whole life as a free man and is only seeing prison now. But is there much point sending a 94 year old to prison. If he's that sorry, maybe he should have come forward years ago and done his time then, and now die a free man instead of dying in prison.

 

[jay_mcfc]

I don't think age is relevant at all. What's relevant is whether an accountant should be in prison when in all likelihood had he refused to do his 'job' he'd have been killed too. It's murky and not as simple as just throwing a Nazi in prison.

 

[jay_mcfc]

People keep saying he's lived his life a 'free' man, but really how free could it have been? Unless you're a serious nutcase, being in some way involved in the killings of hundreds of thousands of people can never leave you. He'd have taken it to bed every single night. Every time he sees a Jew, a Brit, a Pole or hears any mention of the war it will all come flooding back. I'm not saying that's his punishment, but I bet he hasn't lived a great life since 1945.