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Old 10-02-2007, 04:43 PM   #1 (permalink)
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Should he be deported

Today the news broke, here where I live, that a local man was being accused of being a nazi war criminal and was facing deportation.

Here is just one of the articles about it

http://www.ajc.com/gwinnett/content/...cxntlid=inform

Quote:
Accused Nazi guard says he's no war criminal
Lawrenceville man faces deportation

By BRIAN FEAGANS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 10/01/07

An 85-year-old Gwinnett County man accused of guarding people in concentration camps in Nazi Germany said Monday that the U.S. should not deport him.

Paul Henss addressed a throng of reporters at his home near Lawrenceville just hours after the federal government announced plans to expel him from the United States. The government says Henss trained attack dogs to kill people who tried to escape from two concentration camps during World War II.

"That was in 1942," the former SS member said on Monday afternoon. "I didn't know what they were doing with the people."

The Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security allege that the German citizen guarded prisoners "at the notorious Dachau and Buchenwald Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany."

The government says Henss "entered the United States in 1955 after concealing his concentration camp service."

Henss spoke over the occasional wailing of his wife, Else, after the two returned home from lunch at the Golden Corral. They seemed confused by the media attention and took turns sitting in a nearby chair to regroup.

"I was 19 years old," Henss said. "Everybody was with the Hitler youth."

Henss said he trained German Shepherds and Rottweilers to attack those who tried to escape the concentration camps. But he said he didn't know what was going on at the camps and had joined the SS primarily to fight on the front lines in World War II.

"I am not a war criminal," he said.

Henss admitted that he didn't list his service in the SS when arriving in New York more than half a century ago.

"I forgot about the war," he said. "I want to leave the war behind me."

The U.S. government's Office of Special Investigations has not forgotten. It has removed 106 participants in Nazi crimes since 1979.

The case against Henss is the first case in Georgia that the Office of Special Investigation has handled, said Jaclyn Lesch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington.

Authorities have not set a court date for Henss.

"Hundreds of thousands of persons were confined under horrific conditions at Dachau and Buchenwald on the basis of their race, religion, national origin or political opinion," Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher said in a statement from Washington Monday.

"By commencing these proceedings against a man who participated in the victimization of those who were interned there, the Justice Department continues to make good on its pledge to ensure that the United States does not become a sanctuary for human rights violators."

Director Eli M. Rosenbaum of the Office of Special Investigations said in a statement that "the SS committed mass murder at Dachau and Buchenwald and subjected thousands of inmates to slave labor, starvation, grotesque medical experimentation, and torture.

"The brutal concentration camp system could not have functioned without the determined efforts of SS men such as Paul Henss, who, with a vicious attack dog, stood between these victims and the possibility of freedom."

Court documents allege that Henss joined the Hitler Youth organization in 1934 and joined the Nazi Party in September 1940. He volunteered guard dogs that were trained to "bite without mercy" anyone trying to escape and "literally tear prisoners to pieces if they tried to escape."

During an interview with federal investigators, court documents say, Henss admitted that he served as a concentration camp guard for a few months, that he guarded forced labor details and "instructed other SS personnel on dog-handling techniques."
Now what little I remember from studying this kind of stuff years back....young men in Germany had no choice but to join the military if they were selected. I have read about the brainwashing that was done to them.

This guy says he didnt know what was going on....I for one believe him, he was not high ranking, he was a kid...hell the world didnt even know what was going on at the time. I dont agree with the fact that he omitted his service in order to get in to the country, but I think a lot of people, once they found out what had actually been going on were ashamed to have been connected to it in any way, so I dont know that I blame him for doing so.

The man has been in the US for 50(?) years....he hasnt been in any trouble ever from all the stories I've read today. He's been living a quiet life as a tax paying citizen trying to forget the horrors of his youth.

I for one, dont think he should be deported. (Although, all morning I've had flashbacks of reading Apt Pupil and it kinda sways my decision some). If he'd been a higher up that was directly involved with ordering the executions of the camp victims I would have a totally different opinion.

What do you think?
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Old 10-02-2007, 04:57 PM   #2 (permalink)
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I agree and my grandmother lost family in the Holocaust.
The man is 85, so he was 16 when Hitler came to power. He's lived 2/3 of his life in this country (probably barely has a German accent at this point) and 'might' live to be 100.
If there are former Nazi's living in the US that actually committed crimes such as murder, yea, deport them. This says he did not do so as an individual, nor took part in any killing. He's admitted to his 'part', for what it's worth, which was a guard.
Let an old man die in his home with his memories.
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Old 10-02-2007, 05:03 PM   #3 (permalink)
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He came here legally? He should be allowed to stay.

Go round up some other illegal person....
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Old 10-02-2007, 05:04 PM   #4 (permalink)
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Have a holocaust survivor punch him in the gut and be done with it. Prison seems useless for someone that old.
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Old 10-02-2007, 05:15 PM   #5 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cynthetiq
He came here legally? He should be allowed to stay.

Go round up some other illegal person....
Well, that's the thing that the article left me a little unclear on. Is it legal to have concealed participation in the Nazi German military on immigration documents?

I believe that most jews I know would forgive him and move on. Not all of them. But most.
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Old 10-02-2007, 05:29 PM   #6 (permalink)
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Leave him be! He was a kid when all this happened. I say let the man go and use your resources on something worthwhile.
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Old 10-02-2007, 07:01 PM   #7 (permalink)
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Pick your battles...

There are better things to concern ourselves with than this old man.

Hell... A good many of the evil things done in this country today are by red blooded 'mericans.
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Old 10-02-2007, 07:35 PM   #8 (permalink)
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Well it seems pretty weak to me, but on the other hand, were this 30 years ago would people feel the same way about the same guy?

He lied, he got caught, very late, but he still lied.

Based on what was in the article he doesn't seem to fall into the 'monster' category but meh.
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Old 10-02-2007, 07:51 PM   #9 (permalink)
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It depends on what they can prove really. Can they actually verify his participation? It seems out of all the members of the SS, it would be hard to pin point any actions by ONE guard. Seems awfully skidish by the perameters of our justice system, the dude was a nazi, not cool, but as noted in the thread, seems he's lived here quietly for 50+ years. Has he trained any dogs to kill here lately?

Statute of limitations?
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Old 10-02-2007, 07:52 PM   #10 (permalink)
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I say we have illegal aliens beat him to death.

Oh, the weird irony would be too much to bear.
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Old 10-02-2007, 08:00 PM   #11 (permalink)
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ShaniFaye
The man has been in the US for 50(?) years....he hasnt been in any trouble ever from all the stories I've read today. He's been living a quiet life as a tax paying citizen trying to forget the horrors of his youth.
Sorry, Shani...but I see a double standard here if I recall your position on illegal aliens.

It is highly questionable that he came here legally. My SO's (an Israeli woman) father, a holocaust survivor, came here after the war under the Displaced Persons Act (he moved to Israel a few years later to reunite with his few surviving family members. The DP act opened up US immigration to thousands of displaced Jews (and other survivors of nazi atrocities) and specifically required those persons to reveal any past Nazi associations. This guy did not reveal his past...a clear violation of the law.

Does 50 years living here, trouble free and paying taxes, make him a better citizen than an illegal Mexican who has lived here 10 years, started a family, is trouble free and pays taxes?

On a personal level, I see nothing gained by deporting the guy, but for those who consider how he has acted since his illegal entry here, I would suggest applying the same standard to more recent (illegal) immigrants.
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Old 10-02-2007, 10:32 PM   #12 (permalink)
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So basically this is using the phrase "Nazi War Criminal" very very loosely, which in my mind is doing nothing more than making grabs at headlines. Nothing in the article points the the fact that he was a "War Criminal" aside from a base involvement in the war, which almost every young person was in Germany at that time, in one way or another.

I mean it would be one thing if he trained these animals to guard the prisons, and then sat there and intentionally egged the animals into attacking the persons in the camp, but from what I got from the article, he merely trained the animals to guard the prisons (which I'm fairly certain that our prison system still uses guard / attack dogs to secure its perimeter).

So my thoughts are that IF this man is in fact deported, it should be under the pretense of falsifying documents to gain entry into the country, not the fact that he is casually being labeled a "Nazi War Criminal".

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Old 10-02-2007, 10:43 PM   #13 (permalink)
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I could be mistaken, but the fact that he's lived here for this long and is still living as a free man, shows that he is not what I'd consider notorious. I would MUCH rather see the time and $$$$ that was used in this case being put forth to cut down on illegal immigration by people who move here with intent to dodge taxes, send money out, etc...Not to mention that there are criminals out there who are CURRENTLY commiting crimes, as opposed to someone who did something, where the knowledge of it being considered "wrong" at the time, is arguable anyways...

That being said, I say he should be allowed to stay. Its hard to leave the past behind us if we keep digging it up.

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Old 10-02-2007, 10:56 PM   #14 (permalink)
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i don't know the first thing about statutes of limitations... but the dude is 85. leave him alone. and let him smoke some weed while we're at it. he's earned it. he's 80fucking5. that is old. take away his driver's liscence if you need to punish him.

(and for context, i'm not against illegal immigration.)
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Old 10-02-2007, 11:55 PM   #15 (permalink)
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*facepalm*

I vote for a slap on the wrist.

actually, no, I don't, dear goverment, stop fucking wasting tax dollars with this nonsense. k thanks.

as a side note, does it bother anyone else that it took the government FIFTY TWO YEARS to realize something like this?

what a fucking insult to this guy, hasn't he been working in the U.S. for that duration? paying taxes to the very government that is trying to boot him out now?

wow I just.. ugh..

yeah, go go homeland security and the information age

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Old 10-03-2007, 02:06 AM   #16 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dc_dux
Sorry, Shani...but I see a double standard here if I recall your position on illegal aliens.

It is highly questionable that he came here legally. My SO's (an Israeli woman) father, a holocaust survivor, came here after the war under the Displaced Persons Act (he moved to Israel a few years later to reunite with his few surviving family members. The DP act opened up US immigration to thousands of displaced Jews (and other survivors of nazi atrocities) and specifically required those persons to reveal any past Nazi associations. This guy did not reveal his past...a clear violation of the law.

Does 50 years living here, trouble free and paying taxes, make him a better citizen than an illegal Mexican who has lived here 10 years, started a family, is trouble free and pays taxes?

On a personal level, I see nothing gained by deporting the guy, but for those who consider how he has acted since his illegal entry here, I would suggest applying the same standard to more recent (illegal) immigrants.
yes, I cant deny it....its one of the things I've struggled with in my opinion. The way I justify it, in my head, is that he still went thru the immigration process, he still did whatever immigration laws required in 1955, he didnt jump a fence or whatever and move here to live off the taxpayers. He omitted his involvement on his paper work, but at least he did the paperwork. It may sound weak to some to justify it that way....but thats the way my head is wrapping around it.

I dont know how the laws worked back then. I know a new article states that he didnt tell immigration about his military service and that he wasnt asked.
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Old 10-03-2007, 04:43 AM   #17 (permalink)
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Are they busting on him merely because he didn't disclose, or because what he did for Hitler was a "war crime"? If it's because the disclosure, then I have to say rules are rules. (Although for the record, it's too bad that we have to harass this guy when we should be busting millions of others for illegal entry....)

If it's because of what he did as an SS guard, then where is our "innocent until proven guilty"?
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Old 10-03-2007, 05:44 AM   #18 (permalink)
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My take on it is this, I agree with most everyone here that deporting him is a waste of money and in the end serves no useful purpose. But, I still see the need for him to repay what he has done.

Sure, he was a kid when it happened. He found out what was going on, got the hell out and came here. He lied on his paperwork knowing that if he didn't, he'd never get in.

But still, he was involved. He stood between innocent people and freedom and helped injure or kill those who tried to escape.

My suggestion, community service. Send him to Holocaust survivor group meeting and let him look them in the eye and explain why he did what he did. Make him talk to the people he hurt and their families. Maybe someone there will give the verbal punishment he needs, or maybe they'll listen to him and forgive him. Their choice.
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Old 10-03-2007, 06:00 AM   #19 (permalink)
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according to the charges, he's being charged with being in the SS and for training guard dogs to be used in the case of escaped and attempting to escape prisoners
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Old 10-03-2007, 06:23 AM   #20 (permalink)
 
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The US doesnt have jany legal authority or jurisdiction to charge and put on trial individuals for crimes committed outside the United States unless the crimes were committed against American citizens.

Instead, what the DoJ does is charge anyone with a past Nazi association for violating U.S. immigration laws. A sample immigration questionnaire from the time:
Did you, during the period March 23, 1933 to May 8, 1945, in association with either the Nazi Government of Germany or any organization or government associated or allied with the Nazi Government of Germany, ever order, incite, assist or otherwise participate in the persecution of any person because of race, religion, national origin or political opinion.

Yes...... No....

Immigration Questionnaire (pdf)
The guy violated US immigration law.

I think God of Thunder proposed a sensible solution.
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Old 10-03-2007, 06:39 AM   #21 (permalink)
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What you posted isnt from 1955, it has to be after 1990 because it includes section 274c which wasnt added until 1990. He states he was never asked...we need to find an application from 1955 to see if that question was there then.

here is what they are charging him with (for grounds of deportation, not for "war crimes") it doesnt even mention lying to immigrate

http://messageboard.techsavy.net/upl...ngdocument.pdf
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Old 10-03-2007, 06:44 AM   #22 (permalink)
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If you lie on a job application, you will get fired when the truth comes out.

If he lied on his immigration forms, he needs to be deported. Age is irrelevant. Let due process run it's course.
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Old 10-03-2007, 06:48 AM   #23 (permalink)
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If he's guilty of falsifying/omitting information from his application, try him for that & subject him to the penalties thereof. If that includes deportation, then so be it. At least that has some speck of legitimacy to it.

The problem is this: have we denied entry to or deported EVERY member of the German military during WWII? If not, then this guy should not be deported. I can see this for top-level officers & personnel like Mengele...but a freakin' dog trainer?
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Old 10-03-2007, 07:36 AM   #24 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ScottKuma
The problem is this: have we denied entry to or deported EVERY member of the German military during WWII?
Umm...no. In fact...we invited, begged, pleaded and even forced many to come here.

Wernher von Braun ring a bell?
He was the NASA "rocket scientist" during the 50's and 60's. Although he was an SS Sturmbannfuhrer (Nazi military rank), he was brought to this country, under Operation Paperclip, when he surrendered to American forces, rather than risk surrendering to the Soviets. He was intrumental in the German V-2 rocket program, during the war. The fact that we got him, and not the Russians, was what kept us from falling on our face during the Cold War space race.
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Old 10-03-2007, 07:37 AM   #25 (permalink)
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First, we must ask him questions about the world series.
Then force him to watch episodes of Hogan's Hero's.
To lure him in to a false sense of trust, make small talk regarding how hot Hilda (Klink's secretary) was.
After studying his reactions to certain scenes, perform the following:
  • If he laughs at the bumbling German characters, then have a holocaust survivor punch him in the gut (per willravel) and let him stay.
  • If he acts indignant toward the ineptitude of Col. Klink and Sgt. Schultz, or if he cheers for SS Maj. Hochstetter, then give him "30 days in the cooler" and deport him.


Seriously, I'd let him stay until hard evidence is found that he performed any cruelties to the prisoners. If he is guilty, then send him back to Germany.

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Old 10-03-2007, 07:59 AM   #26 (permalink)
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Leave him be! He was a kid when all this happened. I say let the man go and use your resources on something worthwhile.
I can't agree more. For crying out loud - he's 85.
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Old 10-03-2007, 08:27 AM   #27 (permalink)
 
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well, one thing is for sure: we are not going to be able to address any of the questions about procedures here. so the question of how this cat got here in the first place is effectively moot.
and when i read the article, i could almost see the lawyer's advice: put yourself out there into the "court of public opinion...be bewildered and that will help generate sympathy"
"but i am bewildered"
"so much the better."

the american relation to folk "with a nazi past" after world war 2 was a whole lot more ambiguous than you might think if your understanding of this period derives from world war 2 films and history channel stuff.
what bor posted above is right concerning "former" nazis whose skills were considered militarily beneficially in the post-war context--so von braun and others who were connected to the rocket development program, and gehlen, the head of nazi intelligence---and many many many others, including a healthy swatch of folk who were war criminals by ANY definition of the term---all were ushered out of europe and away from prosecution because they were understood as a form of war reparations. for example, the information taken from the gehlen org formed the basis for the cia intel re. the ussr....
the fact of this, its scale, its modes of operation are all at this point quite well documented. but this applied mostly to folk---and often really odious folk--whose skills or information was useful to the americans.

in germany right after the war ended, "denazification" came to consist in walking around asking people who wanted to run for office and who were no communist whether they were still nazis. who would say yes? so if they said no and wanted to run for political office, the americans were fine with tht because they were far more concerned that the kpd would get into power than they were that former nazis would remain in power. check for yourself.

as for the immigration controls put onto lower-level former nazis, i am less sure about this area.

on this guy, however, it's really hard to say what happened or why.
training attack dogs at buchenwald and dachau is a problematic past.
training guard dogs is a curious border area in terms of complicity with the machinery that operated within the camps.
the claim of "not knowing" seems like bullshit to me--but here again the question gets realy complex as son as you start pushing into it, what folk do and do not process of political repression that unfolds around them. there is an entire sub-field in german history that is geared around trying to sort this out. "history of the everyday" its called.
then again, my august 1945, it appeared that no-one knew anything anywhere, everyone was surprised. and on this too, it;s hard to know what to make of it exactly.
what is sure is that by 2007, this particular guy probably really did not know.


i dont know---this is a strange situation in many many ways and i dont feel like i have the information required to take much of a position beyond saying that there is not enough information to take a strong position.
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Old 10-03-2007, 10:18 AM   #28 (permalink)
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To expand, a bit, on my previous post...here is a photo of the Project Paperclip scientists, taken at Fort Bliss Texas.


Now...for the conspiracy theorist in all of us...take a good look at the guy in the second row, third from the left. Look like anyone we know?

Now...if we can cut him some slack...then Paul Henss should be no problem at all.
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Old 10-03-2007, 10:36 AM   #29 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill O'Rights
Umm...no. In fact...we invited, begged, pleaded and even forced many to come here.

Wernher von Braun ring a bell?
He was the NASA "rocket scientist" during the 50's and 60's. Although he was an SS Sturmbannfuhrer (Nazi military rank), he was brought to this country, under Operation Paperclip, when he surrendered to American forces, rather than risk surrendering to the Soviets. He was intrumental in the German V-2 rocket program, during the war. The fact that we got him, and not the Russians, was what kept us from falling on our face during the Cold War space race.
My point exactly.

Also, not to thread-jack...

We keep after these guys after 50 years...but can't find the illegals who crossed our borders yesterday? Oh, wait...it TOOK 50 years to find him....no WONDER we can't find the illegals.

Sometimes I wonder if we deserve our sovereignty.
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Old 10-03-2007, 01:27 PM   #30 (permalink)
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Fuck him. If he was a monster once, he is a monster still. Why should we bother keeping him around?
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Old 10-03-2007, 02:37 PM   #31 (permalink)
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because training dogs when you're 19 makes you a monster.

puh-lease.
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Old 10-03-2007, 02:40 PM   #32 (permalink)
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To have stood guard at a concentration camp and claim to NOT know what was going on?

He's lying

He's hiding something

or he's a plain imbecile.

bottom line, he participated, he's an unconvicted war criminal...a suspect if you will. He should be deported.
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Old 10-03-2007, 05:24 PM   #33 (permalink)
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OK, but let's consider the possibility that perhaps he had no choice. Even if he was privy to what was going on, and if he refused his post, it is highly likely that he would have been shot. I have no doubt that sort of thing happened quite often, it was just the way the Nazi's operated. It's possible that he was able to do his job and still maintain some sort of clean conscience by way of lesser evil. Yes he helped the Nazi's, but perhaps in not having a choice, he was as passive as possible towards the prisoners.

Also consider that his job was no different than some Americans. I'm certain that there were some guards here in the states at POW camps whose orders were to shoot escaping prisoners and train dogs. I'd hardly call his post a "war crime" based on this alone. If there is a true war crime by this person, then I'd like to think that the US is going to try him on provable facts and not generalized descriptions.
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Old 10-04-2007, 05:57 AM   #34 (permalink)
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I believe we have bigger problems to worry about besides an 85 year old man that probably did know what was going on in the camps but doubtfully gassed or actually killed anyone.

Why not worry about immigration issues that are going on right now... not someone that slipped thru the cracks 50 years ago.
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Old 10-04-2007, 10:44 AM   #35 (permalink)
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My heart is torn on this one. I feel on the fence. On one side, the horrors and atrocities of the Holocaust just fill me with rage and I want everyone who let it happen to be punished. To feel the fear as they are led into a gas chamber or shot into a pit that they dug for themselves.

On the other, as mentioned in the article and numerous books Ive read on the subject (its a very morbid fascination of mine), children were bred to do as they were told and that they were better than the others. Huge groups of people taught them that by being of Aryan descent/design/looks, they were better than others and needed to do as they were told to help purge the Earth of people different than them. Of lesser status and lesser worth.

Still, I think when he came here he should have listed his service. You couldn\\\'t just forget about training dogs to attack and maim people. You cant just forget the war! Especially not since you were a part of it, albeit a small one.

To make my final decision, Id have to know what the punishment would be. Where are they deporting him to? Some sort of jail? Or are they just pushing him off to some other country of his selection?

To me, it seems like the Office of Special Investigations ought to focus on more recent things at hand. Deporting a man of a crime fifty years prior really does nothing except say to the world, Wed rather have criminals in your countries and prove the the US Government is to some extent able to figure out people\\\'s identities.

I think they would be better served looking for Osama bin Ladens psychotically angry ass who has killed thousands of people in this century. Shouldnt we punish him? Or will we wait fifty years and just deport his family from the US.
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Old 10-04-2007, 11:25 AM   #36 (permalink)
 
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as to whether this guy knew what was happening--if he was mostly at buchenwald, its' possible that he was attached to the political camp and not the extermination camp and could have--had he worked really really hard and had the wind always blown in a favorable direction so that the smell from the ovens did not waft his way, in other words had not knowing been his real fulltime job and training guard dogs was just a side gig--its *possible* that he didnt know.
but he was at dachau.
he knew.
and its really unlikely that he didnt know at buchenwald as well.


i dont really understand the genocide--it's just water over the bridge---not my problem who really cares---attitudes above.
and i PARTICULARLY do not understand the logic that would have folk substitute contemporary "immigration problems" for dealing with folk who participated at one level or another in genocide. particularly because---well---the genocide of the 1940s was geared around cleansing the national body politics from contaminants, outsiders etc.. too.

it really makes me wonder what, if anything, folk are thinking when they say this stuff.

if there's a problem it centers on the fact that this guy is in his 80s, apparently not in the greatest of health, was a low-level functionary in a horrific machine and--frankly--he slipped through the cracks and got away with it.
so fine. he's in his 80s and it would be absurd to deport him beause it would be the functional equivalent of executing him.

but he knew.
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Old 10-04-2007, 12:11 PM   #37 (permalink)
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I think it's a little odd, too. Especially considering the conditions at Dachau. My daughter went there this past summer, so I'm kind of fresh with the knowledge of the history of the camp. I find it highly improbable that someone lived and worked there yet did not know.

And not everyone was with the Hitler Youth, come on. That one gets to slide, too?

Does it matter that when American troops liberated the camp they were so horrified by the conditions there that they executed many of the German guards they found there? Would you be feeling bad for this guy then?

Personally, I don't care what happens to him. There are consequences to our actions, even when we aren't or don't feel in control of them.

And I also find it highly incongruous that we hold a 19-year-old fruit picker to a higher standard than a 19-year-old who trained dogs to kill people for the Nazis.

Here is a picture of where prisoners slept at Dachau, my daughter took this picture...

When the camp was liberated, I hope my memory is right, but there were around 30,000 prisoners there and the facillity was designed to hold around 5000.

Here is where they went to the bathroom...


So instead of bitching about the treatment this poor old man is getting when we should be paying attention to more 'important' things...why don't we try advocating for more important things instead.
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Old 10-04-2007, 01:32 PM   #38 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dksuddeth
bottom line, he participated, he's an unconvicted war criminal...a suspect if you will. He should be deported.
So the US government should deport anyone currently living in the US who was a part of the German government during WWII? That's-- For lack of a better term-- A pretty stupid notion.

Who cares if he knew? That was more than sixty years ago. Water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned.
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Old 10-04-2007, 02:51 PM   #39 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Infinite_Loser
So the US government should deport anyone currently living in the US who was a part of the German government during WWII? That's-- For lack of a better term-- A pretty stupid notion.
he wasn't a beaurucrat, he was an SS guard. Huge difference if you weren't aware of that.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Infinite_Loser
Who cares if he knew? That was more than sixty years ago. Water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned.
tell that to all the survivors, see if they would agree with you. Would you also give hitler, stalin, or mussolini a pass as well?
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Old 10-04-2007, 03:22 PM   #40 (permalink)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dksuddeth
he wasn't a beaurucrat, he was an SS guard. Huge difference if you weren't aware of that.
Oops! I didn't mean government (I wonder where that came from...). Oh well, you knew what I meant regardless.

Quote:
tell that to all the survivors, see if they would agree with you. Would you also give hitler, stalin, or mussolini a pass as well?
He wasn't a leader or in any leadership role. He was simply your common run-of-the-mill soldier who did what his government told him to do. Sorry, but I'm not willing to crucify some 80-something year old man for a war which ended approximately 62 years ago. It happened. You can't change it. Let bygones be bygones and focus on the important issues.
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