Poland confirms 98-year-old Minnesota man was Nazi commander, seeks extradition

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-minnesota-nazi-commander-20170313-story.html

by danielam • 9 years ago

23 21 9 years ago

breitling• 9 years ago

Whatever is the point in prosecuting a 98 year old? He won't even know what's happening.

tuxxy• 9 years ago

A man who condoned the murders of 10 million innocent men, women, and children does not deserve mercy. Not in this life, and not in the next.

It would be an injustice to the victims to let a single known accomplice in this genocide get away. Age is irrelevant.

rincebrain• 9 years ago

I think parent's point is that at 98, almost everyone has lost the vast majority of the mental faculties which constitute their identity, and if that's true of this individual, then the person they want to bring to justice effectively died years ago, and his body is just a shell of who he was.

(I'm not trying to condone or condemn seeking justice against him, here, just trying to explain what the origins of that statement seem to be.)

credit_guy2• 9 years ago

Nit-picking here, but I am not sure this person is accused of genocide. This person is not wanted in relation to the genocide of the Jews in WW2, but for his participation in the retaliation killing of Polish civilians. Today I learned that Germany killed about 5 million Polish, mostly civilians, during WW2 [1], which is mind-boggling. But I don't know if this was ever classified as genocide, as this was not done with the intent of exterminating the Polish population in part of whole (which is the definition of genocide [2]), while the Jews were killed with precisely that intent.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_punishment#By_Germa...

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide_Convention

ido• 9 years ago

The purpose of persecution is public safety, not revenge.

watwut• 9 years ago

Justice or revenge. Given German behavior on occupied Poland back then, there is nothing surprising about it.

danielam6• 9 years ago

Justice entails penalties. Otherwise, crime is rewarded by an excess of laxity. Words like "revenge" or "vengeance" have come to be associated with acts motivated by hatred and draconian punishments, but that is not the traditional meaning.

greydius• 9 years ago

In my mind, it's not about prosecuting an individual. The point is to demonstrate that civilized society should, without exception, pursue justice againt war criminals.

Poland confirms 98-year-old Minnesota man was Nazi commander, seeks extradition

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