90 year old 'nazi' put on trial

[quote=caucheka]so, a 91 year old man, who was born in ukraine, served in the soviet army and was captured, and forced to work as a guard at a deathcamp was put on trial for working to murder 28,000 people. this was something that he had no choice in, being a pow at the time 68 years ago. not only that, but the trial had been stretched over a lengthy 18 months, because of the old mans health. heres article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12321549 am i the only one appalled by the fact that not only did this happen, but he got sentenced for 5 years? he'll probably be dead by then, given his health conditions. heres the kicker, they don't even have proof he killed or helped kill anyone. the only 'proof' they have is a ss id card stating he was posted at the death camp. so who else feels like they crossed the line?[/quote]

[quote=Toshabi]It's hard to say. Apparently this case has been floating around for longer then 30 years (In several courts might I add) and we really don't know all of the details over here. Ohio citizens would be able to have better judgement about this case then we do and would be able to make the call if it was a fair decision or not (Mainly because this guy was apparently well known to the people living around Ohio). I can't say if this is good or bad, so I can't really give an opinion on this thread due to lack of info. + this is BBC news, they tend to be bias and uninformative. Note: It was a German court that found him guilty. Kind of ironic, the Israel court ruled in his favor. Who knows, it might've been all due to bad blood, considering he was a prisoner of the Germans during the time.[/quote]

[quote=caucheka]yeah thats true. i also got the feeling that since this was a german court they might be playing the "we're totally not nazis now thats bad" card. althought its highly unlikely.[/quote]

[quote=Canoas]I think it's reaaaally stupid. That's like having a soldier kill your enemies then having him get sentenced to death because he killed people. He's not the one at fault.[/quote]

[quote=Searz]Bullshit, in pure form.[/quote]

[quote=PotatisFarfar]I call bullshit...[/quote]

[quote=Alahric]What would Jesus do![/quote]

[quote=Toshabi]After getting a bit more news, I hear this guy did his job willingly in those death camps and was the cause of death for a lot of people. After the war, to get away from it all, he went to the states where he turned his life around and pretty much became a model citizen. I do have to agree with the judgement made against him. You have to face the punishment for your crimes someday, at least he got to live his youth in peace. I sort of wish they would've convicted him sooner then to wait till he is pretty much dead. BBC sort of sugar coated this article.[/quote]

[quote=Canoas][quote=Toshabi] After getting a bit more news, I hear this guy did his job willingly in those death camps and was the cause of death for a lot of people. After the war, to get away from it all, he went to the states where he turned his life around and pretty much became a model citizen. I do have to agree with the judgement made against him. You have to face the punishment for your crimes someday, at least he got to live his youth in peace. I sort of wish they would've convicted him sooner then to wait till he is pretty much dead. BBC sort of sugar coated this article. [/quote] Plenty of soldiers also do their job willingly and are the cause of death for a lot of people. Should they get be sent to prison and pay for their crimes as well?[/quote]

[quote=Toshabi][quote=Canoas] [quote=Toshabi] After getting a bit more news, I hear this guy did his job willingly in those death camps and was the cause of death for a lot of people. After the war, to get away from it all, he went to the states where he turned his life around and pretty much became a model citizen. I do have to agree with the judgement made against him. You have to face the punishment for your crimes someday, at least he got to live his youth in peace. I sort of wish they would've convicted him sooner then to wait till he is pretty much dead. BBC sort of sugar coated this article. [/quote] Plenty of soldiers also do their job willingly and are the cause of death for a lot of people. Should they get be sent to prison and pay for their crimes as well? [/quote] There are two major differences between the two though; Soldiers fight other soldiers, people working on death camps were responsible for the death of innocent unarmed civilians. Sure, soldiers do indeed kill civilians during fights, however, it isn't intentional and most of the time when it happens, it happens because the civilians were on the battle field with the soldiers and met an unfortunate fate when they got in the line of fire. Even then, when a soldier does intentionally kill a civilian, they are usually reprehended and put on trial for spilling innocent blood. The people working on the death camps were willingly and knowingly slaughtering Jewish people just because they were Jewish. The poor people couldn't do anything in their situation, they were sent there to their deaths without a fight. It's sort of a wishy washy argument that you're bringing up, but I do see where you are coming from this.[/quote]