
Poland confirms 98-year-old Minnesota man was Nazi commander, seeks extradition - danielam
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-minnesota-nazi-commander-20170313-story.html
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breitling
Whatever is the point in prosecuting a 98 year old? He won't even know what's
happening.

~~~
tuxxy
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.

~~~
credit_guy
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...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_punishment#By_Germany)

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

~~~
0x07c0
And the polish killed their fare share of German civilians.. It's a reason
that statute of limitations is considered a part of a civilized justice
system. Sometimes letting the past be the past and move on is a good thing.

~~~
danielam
"And the [P]olish killed their fare [sic] share of German civilians.."

You're not serious. What a despicable claim.

Also, there is no statute of limitations on murder, much less war crimes.

~~~
0x07c0
>You're not serious. What a despicable claim. A very strong argument based on
facts ?

Between 500.000 -2.000.000 German civilians, from the eastern part of Germany
parish in the period 1945-1950.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_and_expulsion_of_German...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_and_expulsion_of_Germans_%281944%E2%80%9350%29)

Previous Polish governments have triad to take actions against some of the
perpetrators:

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/1376...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/1376828/Polish-
man-accused-of-war-crimes-against-the-Germans.html)

While I personally is against dragging old people in front of courts 70 years
after the alleged crimes (polish or German), at list the Polish do not
discriminate.

~~~
danielam
You're being disingenuous. First of all, my objection was to your equating
whatever instances of Polish (please capitalize) retaliation against Germans
with German war crimes. THAT is despicable. You cannot draw a moral
equivalency between systematic German extermination and instances of
retaliation (whether expulsion, spontaneous and isolated retribution, Jewish
revenge squads or actions orchestrated by the Russians). Sadly, there have
been attempts by some (like Erika Steinbach) to relativize and manipulate
history to make Nazi war crimes seem not unusual for the time period,
presumably to soften the guilt. Your original comment was doing precisely
that. Second, much of the history surrounding retribution is still not settled
and controversial. Sadly, it is politicized. There have been attempts to use
favorable narratives to, e.g., extract restitution from Poland (!!) for
confiscated property or property abandoned even decades after the war. A
number of exaggerated, fabricated or unsubstantiated claims about supposed
Nazi collaboration have been published as well which were later discredited.
Third, expulsion (which was ordered by Russia and not something alien to
Germans) is not systematic extermination (see first point). Fourth, ideally,
everyone, regardless of ethnicity, should face justice. It is not always
possible, but it does not mean that it should not be done when possible.
Sadly, of the thousands of members of the SS involved in extermination and
massacres, relatively few have faced trial. Finally, it's worth noting that
Michael Karkoc, the subject of the article, is not German but Ukrainian.
Ukrainians have not yet come to terms with Ukrainian collaboration with the
Nazis.

~~~
0x07c0
My comment was to the absurdity of having a trail for a 98 year old man. As I
get from your emotional involvement in this case, you come from the region? As
you then probably know, in one country the SS (local) are among many
considered heroes, in the neighbour country criminals. Elements of the local
SS units was after the war taken over by the CIA(Gehlen Organization). And was
waging guerilla war against the soviets. There successor units are presently
fighting in the eastern Ukraine and are US allies (Right sector and others)..

[https://www.thenation.com/article/dark-side-ukraine-
revolt/](https://www.thenation.com/article/dark-side-ukraine-revolt/)

