I dunno, I was at Auschwitz last January and I nearly got sick, it was disgusting and I felt like crying…..

I find it hard to believe anybody with a decent bone in their body could work as guard there, it really did bring the sadistic side out in people….. The propaganda might have worked with the regular German citizen but the people who worked in these camps were nothing short of sadistic.

It’s not that I disagree but at the same time,some of the guards were forced to work there. Their choices were often to choose between the freedom and lives of their own families or to be a traitor to your leader and punished severely. Most people will do anything to protect their offspring.
I’m in no way victimising the guards,just trying to see it from another perspective.
On the other hand though,some of the guards did it because they were disgusting humans and were given nice handouts to torture and kill innocent women and children,whole families.

‘Thumb up’ on that Antoin, specifically your point about Dresden, a totally unnecessary act.

Would you like to accuse me of that? I am a highly educated well paid professional from a very working class background. My opinion of this man is my own. Formed on the basis what this man was part of. And that is the killing and murdering of thousands of innocent people. It was easy for him to say he was under duress. If he was under duress then why didn’t he own up and admit it. Instead he ran. Visit Auschwitz and get back to me.

Hmmm, strange. I don’t remember replying to any of your comments Mr Bear. Seems you took it upon yourself to take offense from it.

And as you say, we’re all entitled to our own opinions.

And in my experience, anyone who talks about how educated they are turn out to be quite the opposite

So he was a guard at a German POW camp, of course he’s going to be convicted of what he had been, but who’s to know whether he was a bad guard or a good guard, he might have been a compassionate man, he might not have wanted to be there at all but had no choice… None of us on here know, so my opinion is all of your negative opinions are based on a stereotypical image of nasty German guard depicted in most hollywood ww2 movies.

@leslie glad you are a well paid professional. I don’t see the relevance though.

Have you ever seen one of these camps Imran??

These camps were possibly the worst thing I have ever seen and if you were working in one of these camps you really did have sadistic steak in you. It’s not like he was on the front line or working in a factory, he watched as people starved,were beaten, tortured etc. He might have been subject to propaganda, but it does take a certain type of person to sit complacently while thousands are murdered in front of you.

I have no sympathy for him.

So lets just say Sean that circumstances placed you in his situation. Exactly what would you have done about the terrible things you could see going on around you, particularly if you were Ukranian yourself? Written a strongly worded letter to the camp commandant, or directly to AH maybe? Or perhaps gone ‘public’ to the Nazi media? Killed a few of your fellow camp guards to express your displeasure?

Maybe he was a ruthless sadist, or maybe he was just keeping his head down and trying to come out alive at the other end. We’ll never know, and I hope none of us are ever caught up in such an awful war.

Some of those guards were told to join in or be traitors. Join in to protect your families,your babies,wives,parents etc.. Or be punished severely. Some of those guards did what most of us would do and,as said above,kept their heads down and tried not to hurt any of those poor victims in the camps.
Some of the guards were evil and disgusting and got involved for the big handouts and even the joy of torturing the ‘filthy jews’,they were either brainwashed into thinking that way or truly believed it.
I don’t know which this guy was but that experience would change you forever.

“victims of his crimes”?? He wasn’t Hess or anybody like that. Many Polish,Ukrainian etc were forced to work for the Nazi movement during the wars. He didn’t play a direct part in formulating the Final Solution nor was he a ranking officer in the SS so I can’t see how he committed any crime. Now before I get my head taken off,he did witness a load of crimes but what could he possibly have done about it? As a Ukrainian,if he protested or tried to stop any torture/gassing he would have been gassed himself…

He was tried and convicted of assisting in the deaths of thousands of men, women and children. Any decent person would rather go their their own grave, than engage in that type of crime. The Adolf Eichmann defence doesnt wash – not in court, nor in the court of public opinion. He was a murderer, and thats all that can be said. I hope he burns in hell for an eternity.

Not to mention the Jewish Kapos who led their own to their deaths

Very easy for you to say that Jon at home on your laptop. What if you were a kid in the middle of such a conflict? Would you be so noble?

Yes, Imran. We shouldn’t condemn anyone or anything they do until we’ve experienced exactly what they experience. You’re SO right.

Or until you know all the facts, which you don’t

Imran,

No-one can possibly know everything; no-one can possibly place themselves in everyone’s shoes so we could probably argue that about every situation.

In fact, for the hell of it, I might just do that – next time certain people here are in a condemnatory/moralising mood on certain recurring issues.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit….a dhúd. :-)

You’re probably right, we shouldn’t.

What we do know is that this man (or boy) was given the chance at life or certain death and chose the former. I’m not saying he’s a victim or an evil person. I’m saying we simply don’t know.

Too many people here automatically jump up and say “May he rot” as if they themselves have any right to say he should have killed himself. Disgraceful

And reading between the lines of your last comment, I say you should know there’s a huge difference between him and those who created the situation he found himself in.

Agus tu fein, mo ‘chara’

….which is something I would never want to say about anyone – no matter how evil I perceived them to be.

So, by your strange logic, all the Germans of today are to blame??

Gis, did you just read the one tiny bit of his post that said “themselves are to blame”.

Chris, to answer your point, presuming he was guilty, I’ve no issue with any of these people being tried by their descendent government. What they did was horrific and was beyond simply part taking in policies of the time.

By your logic, when does it stop? Just say you have a high up general who was responsible for killing 1000s of Jews being tried by Germans. Does he have the same argument?
But anyway it doesn’t matter because he won an appeal, maybe the appeal was based on your point.

I suppose once you make the point about scaling this up to the level of general it makes sense. I wouldnt have any problem with that and I suppose it must be the same for all cases.

I dont necessarily blame all Germans, but I think they must accept some of the blame, almost as much to blame as this guy. Who seemed to be just doing his job, Iv read a bit about Germans knowing about what was going on in these camps yet just ignoring it. In my opinion that is just as bad as this guy,

I suppose though it has to stop somewhere and at some stage people have to be brought to justice.

Well said Emma. I do think that SOME guards might have been in that position so their own families weren’t punished and killed as traitors. This guy may have been evil but there’s also the possibility that he just wanted to protect his family and himself from a similar fate

Ya i know that they have, still think prosecuting a low level guard like this sounds like a publicity thing

Lovely sentiment Lesley.

Leslie!

Guilty till proven innocent?

@ Liam if you bothered to read the article properly, paragraph 2 clearly states he was convicted. That is all.

@ian. You’re right, I apologise. Still don’t agree with him being held responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people. He was just a soldier in nazi Germany and was subject to brainwashing and propaganda.

Why the emphasis on Israel? Why mention it at all?

But aren’t glad he did all the same Charles?

Criminals…. Savage perpetrators..,., that sounds like condemnatory, moralizing language and we don’t do that here, do we?

You know what Imran? I’m not. I actually find it offensive that you saw fit to drag Jews into the debate and now this other person completes the circle by putting the acts of Israel in the same category as those of Nazi Germany. So spare me your smartypants comments please.I’m out of this one. it’s low class and getting lower.

I was going to clarify that statement earlier, but unfortunately I decided to leave it.
If Jews were coaxed into doing the Nazis bidding, then what chance did this young guy have? That’s what I meant, and I certainly didn’t that comment in for the craic as a dig at the Jews. It was meant in the context of the the early part of the comment I replied to.
Good night

Is there any crime great enough to be judged, any criminal bad enough, to be condemned?

Woah there horsey,

Where am I excusing him of anything? Where did I say anyone else would do the same thing? I don’t know all the details at all.

My problem is with those who call for burning and rotting in hell when they’re probably the same type of coward who’d do no different

iPhone are smart, so are women…. But the combination isn’t

“iPhone are smart”

They’ll dance on you for that. :-)

Damn iPad

I was going to clarify that statement earlier, but unfortunately I decided to leave it.

If Jews were coaxed into doing the Nazis bidding, then what chance did this young guy have? That’s what I meant, and I certainly didn’t that comment in for the craic as a dig at the Jews. It was meant in the context of the the early part of the comment I replied to.

Good night

I fail to see what all the fuss is about, the past is the past get over it, this guy was a nobody stop playing the blame game,

So it seems. I wonder if this must-not-condemn attitude will be maintained…. going forward.