Auschwitz guard suspect, 93, arrested in Germany

[DonViejo]

Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS

BERLIN (AP) — Germany authorities have arrested a 93-year-old man on suspicion of “multiple counts” of accessory to murder while he was a SS guard in the Auschwitz death camp.

Schwerin prosecutors’ spokesman Stefan Urbanek said Tuesday that a doctor examined the man after his arrest Monday and determined he was in good enough health to be held in custody while authorities investigate further.

His was the latest arrest in nationwide investigations of 30 former Auschwitz guard suspects identified by special federal prosecutors last year.

The suspect, whose name Urbanek refused to give citing German privacy rules, is accused of being an SS medic who served in the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in September 1944. That’s a time when prosecutors say more than 1,700 people were sent to the camp’s gas chambers.

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Read more: http://www.salon.com/2014/03/18/auschwitz_guard_suspect_93_arrested_in_germany/

[Spitfire of ATJ]

1. The whole "Hitler finds out" meme based on clips from "Der Untergang" (Downfall),....

....inspired me to get the movie.

What is surprising at the ending credits is to find out how many of the Nazis in Hitler's inner circle who were in the bunker served just ten years or so (Many released in the 50s) and are either still alive or died of old age only recently.

Our American system of vengeance would have exterminated them all long ago.

[atreides1]

2. "Our American system of vengeance would have exterminated them all long ago."

No, it wouldn't!

The War Crimes trials was probably more about political necessity then it was justice!

Besides, the allies weren't concerned with those not in leadership positions...this guy is being charged by the German government... and there is no statute of limitations for what he might have been involved in!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

9. They only went after the big fish in those trials....

There were plenty of them who simply vanished when they took off the uniform. It was a mass movement so that means LOTS of participants.

Also, the concept of punishment in Europe isn't burdened with the whole "good vs evil" baggage of Americans since some of the people in Hitler's inner circle only got 10 years.

Hell, we give that kind of sentence for stealing a loaf of bread.

[geek tragedy]

6. "our american system of vengeance"

say, who set up the Nuremberg tribunal?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. We did. For crimes that didn't exist before trial....

SOMEONE had to pay for the 50 million dead in WWII since Hitler escaped the fate of Mussolini.

Now THAT would be an interesting movie. What if Hitler stood trial and his defence was that he had done nothing illegal? After all, genocide of your own people was standard practice in Europe's long and bloody history. They would put whole defeated populations to the sword.

[geek tragedy]

11. So you're saying it was vengeance, not justice, that lead to the Nuremberg

defendants getting punished?

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. I'm saying we tend to think that if something is evil than we can kill it.

[Aristus]

3. You can run,

arschlochen, but you can't hide...

[liberalmike27]

4. I guess he wasn't a rocket scientist

Or propagandist, or anyone else in the top echelons, or he'd have been imported and used, as with Operation Paperclip.

We're never one to take advantage of horrible people, if we can get anything from it. Thanks to Wernher Von Braun for our space program. Russia got a bunch of them as well.

This is yet another classic example of how the poor underlings who were carrying out the orders are executed, and the people giving them were welcomed with open arms, and forgiven.

[liberalmike27]

5. I'm Sure you Know

But in case you don't,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip

[geek tragedy]

7. "poor underling" sorry, can't join you in your sympathy for a Nazi war criminal nt

[jamzrockz]

8. I know what these people are accused of

is despicable, but after some time without catching them, you just have to give up. A man whose memory is probably not very good anyone would be asked to defend himself against crimes he allegedly committed 70 yrs ago. Sorry but I don't think that is any kind of justice.

Now if there is recent evidence that he was on the run, then I will reconsider

[DisgustipatedinCA]

12. Couldn't possibly disagree more.

I believe Nazis should be hunted to the ends of the earth, irrespective of what they do or do not remember about their war crimes.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

14. I didn't see that he's accused of anything ...

... other than being employed there.

I suppose he can be tried for "guilt by association".

[geek tragedy]

15. OMG, puke.

All he did was work at a death camp, I mean he was just doing his job of making sure Jews didn't escape their fate of being slaughtered like animals. Where's the crime in that? Just guilt by association/

[olddad56]

16. Hope we don't wait until Bush and Cheney are 93 before they are arrested.

[santamargarita]

17. Give him a fair trial and hang him!