Should we Continue to Prosecute Nazi War Criminals?

[The Emerald Legion]

Gosh, if only we had reliable testimony and evidence that doesn't consist of trails going back 70 years. Any evidence or justice is gone. Now it's practically speaking a religious crusade. The Nazi's are the devil and we must root out evil! DEMOCRACY SMASH.

There's no reasonable, non-emotional, reason to continue to hunt them.

Justice is an emotional issue to you?

You have been watching too much equilibrium.

This isn't about justice. There's no justice in continuing to pursue them.

[Great Nepal]

Now, no. They should have been prosecuted when the war ended. However, I could definitely advocate prosecution of a Nazi who was maybe trying to start the genocide again. But as of right now, no. They're old and it's just pointless. They would probably be given life in prison and how long is that? A few years, maybe.

It's not pointless.
It sets a precedent and sends a message to other war criminals.

We will not stop coming for you.
Are you saying that we shouldn't have tried Milosevic, just because we tried him three years he committed his atrocity?

A message that can be sent by simple prosecution and commuted/ suspended sentence. A message that was sent 70 years ago when Nazi Germany was brought to its knees and Germany partitioned. A message that was sent by prosecution and punishment of almost all high ranking Nazis.
If these doesn't sent clear enough message potential war criminals that they can not win and it is almost certain that they will be prosecuted, nothing will.

[Meepcraftia]

Should Japanese Americans hate Americans for putting them into internment camps?

[Ifreann]

Should Japanese Americans hate Americans for putting them into internment camps?

I wouldn't be surprised if people who were put into internment camps remain upset about that to this day.

[The Emerald Legion]

Gosh, if only we had reliable testimony and evidence that doesn't consist of trails going back 70 years. Any evidence or justice is gone.

Is it? And just how do you know that?

Burden of proof is on you. You're insisting something exists, that there's a reason these people should be harassed when they're almost dead.

[Vitaphone Racing]

Is it? And just how do you know that?

Burden of proof is on you. You're insisting something exists, that there's a reason these people should be harassed when they're almost dead.

The fact you said "reliable" testimony implies that you know testimony and evidence exists, but you think it isn't reliable.

Here's one case anyway, looks like the evidence was pretty sound since the guy admitted to it.

[Imperializt Russia]

Is it? And just how do you know that?

Burden of proof is on you. You're insisting something exists, that there's a reason these people should be harassed when they're almost dead.

http://www.channel5.com/shows/treblinka ... death-camp

The records the Nazis kept of their extermination work is continually referred to and is preserved, by being so incredulously thorough.

[The Emerald Legion]

So we can establish joe the ex-Nazi was a Nazi. So were a lot of people.

Why should we bother hunting him down? That's the part you can't tell me, because there is no reason apart from pointless hatred of the Nazi's.

[America Libertaria]

Nazism is a warning from history, one of the worst atrocities committed by man.

WWII has been over since 1945, and the prosecution of Nazis intensified from the 1960s since the prosecution of Eichmann.

Nazi hunting continues to his day, and while I do not condone Nazism, there is the issue that many Nazis are nearing their 90s.

Jakiw Palij for example is well into his 90s, everyday protesters rally against the old man's house in Queens, New York, scaring the neighbors and, well its technically harassment to the old man. His US citizenship has been revoked, and his native country Poland doesn't want him back.
He is a former Nazi but he now a very old man. Does it make sense to continue to try to prosecute him? A 91 year old?

Some will argue yes, after all he was part of the Third Reich and worked in concentration camps.

Others may say no, that we ought to show clemency? That these people are old and many frail, and that very little will be achieved to prosecute them now apart from satisfaction of Nazi hunters.

What is your opinion, NationStates General?

Their victims were old and frail, many of them, and young and innocent. I say they get clemency in the same measure as they showed it.

I agree, but I don't think we should make the "eye for an eye" argument.

[Spoder]

Gosh, if only we had reliable testimony and evidence that doesn't consist of trails going back 70 years. Any evidence or justice is gone. Now it's practically speaking a religious crusade. The Nazi's are the devil and we must root out evil! DEMOCRACY SMASH.

There's no reasonable, non-emotional, reason to continue to hunt them.

If there was no emotion, nobody would ever want justice.
People would be fine with murder, and rape.
Justice is always a matter of emotion.
A fair trial is another thing.
But even in the most fair trial you could ask for, a Nazi would and should lose.
They should be prosecuted. It will bring little closure to families, but it will bring enough.
They supported the world's greatest massacre. If something like this happened 10 years ago, every one of them would be sought out and put to death.
I don't see how time can make a crime like that justifiable.

[Farnhamia]

So we can establish joe the ex-Nazi was a Nazi. So were a lot of people.

Why should we bother hunting him down? That's the part you can't tell me, because there is no reason apart from pointless hatred of the Nazi's.

We're not talking about all Nazis, we're talking about people who actively participated in the exterminations. Perhaps that's where you've mistaken the discussion.

[Cannaheim]

The answer to this question is entirely circumstantial, things like these aren't as black and white. People Will do anything, As long as they are desperate enough.You don't know what Someone guilty has been through to do what they did...

[Vitaphone Racing]

So we can establish joe the ex-Nazi was a Nazi. So were a lot of people.

Why should we bother hunting him down? That's the part you can't tell me, because there is no reason apart from pointless hatred of the Nazi's.

You must be in the wrong thread. We're talking about Nazi War Criminals, not Nazis.

[Imperializt Russia]

So we can establish joe the ex-Nazi was a Nazi. So were a lot of people.

Why should we bother hunting him down? That's the part you can't tell me, because there is no reason apart from pointless hatred of the Nazi's.

A "pointless hatred of the Nazis" which I and most people ITT aren't espousing.
There's "being a Nazi" and there's "actively participating in the Final Solution and other war crimes".

There's also "voting for the Nazi party" and "being a Nazi", as two different things.

[The Emerald Legion]

Gosh, if only we had reliable testimony and evidence that doesn't consist of trails going back 70 years. Any evidence or justice is gone. Now it's practically speaking a religious crusade. The Nazi's are the devil and we must root out evil! DEMOCRACY SMASH.

There's no reasonable, non-emotional, reason to continue to hunt them.

If there was no emotion, nobody would ever want justice.
People would be fine with murder, and rape.
Justice is always a matter of emotion.
A fair trial is another thing.
But even in the most fair trial you could ask for, a Nazi would and should lose.
They should be prosecuted. It will bring little closure to families, but it will bring enough.
They supported the world's greatest massacre. If something like this happened 10 years ago, every one of them would be sought out and put to death.
I don't see how time can make a crime like that justifiable.

Welp. Might as well right off America, Britain, and pretty much the entire west. I mean there's the trail of tears, the various horrors of the British Empire...

The reason you feel this way is because you've been manipulated into not thinking about the matter logically. Just as the jews were a scapegoat for the Nazi's in an ironically amusing turnaround, the Nazi's are now a scapegoat for other people. You don't have to think right? Because the Nazi's are uniquely evil and none of them are real people. Just a faceless label for you to score morality points by despising.

So we can establish joe the ex-Nazi was a Nazi. So were a lot of people.

Why should we bother hunting him down? That's the part you can't tell me, because there is no reason apart from pointless hatred of the Nazi's.

We're not talking about all Nazis, we're talking about people who actively participated in the exterminations. Perhaps that's where you've mistaken the discussion.

Even them, what were they supposed to do? Say no and join the exterminated themselves? The real monsters are likely gone.

[Galloism]

We're not talking about all Nazis, we're talking about people who actively participated in the exterminations. Perhaps that's where you've mistaken the discussion.

Even them, what were they supposed to do? Say no and join the exterminated themselves? The real monsters are likely gone.

Under what legal system is duress a defense to murder?

[The Emerald Legion]

Even them, what were they supposed to do? Say no and join the exterminated themselves? The real monsters are likely gone.

Under what legal system is duress a defense to murder?

Most that recognize duress. Duress is accepted or rejected on a case by case basis rather than as an established law. Yes, commonly duress is not accepted as a defense to murder, but this isn't exactly an ordinary circumstance.

And again, technically the people believed they were committing lawful executions. Then their government lost the war and all of a sudden those lawful executions are not so lawful.

[Divair]

Should Japanese Americans hate Americans for putting them into internment camps?

Were six million Japanese Americans killed?

[Cannaheim]

Under what legal system is duress a defense to murder?

Militia are constantly recruiting young children in Africa by making them kill, you reckon these kids should be punished instead of the real killers?

[Ifreann]

Is it? And just how do you know that?

Burden of proof is on you. You're insisting something exists, that there's a reason these people should be harassed when they're almost dead.

I'm insisting no such thing. If we don't have the evidence to support a prosecution then there shouldn't be a prosecution, regardless of the alleged crime or the identity of the accused. You say that there is no such evidence with regards to Nazi war crimes, and I want to know how you know that.

---

We're not talking about all Nazis, we're talking about people who actively participated in the exterminations. Perhaps that's where you've mistaken the discussion.

Even them, what were they supposed to do? Say no and join the exterminated themselves? The real monsters are likely gone.

If they'd like to employ the Nuremberg defence then they can discuss that before the trial with their legal team. That the accused might attempt the Nuremberg defence is no reason, in and of itself, not to prosecute.

[The greater holy roman empire]

No, I do not agree. I mean, they are in their 90`s.

[An Inalienable Right To Free Speech Zone]

As long as a case can be made, then so be it. Justice must be served.

[Divair]

No, I do not agree. I mean, they are in their 90`s.

So?

[The Emerald Legion]

Name one logical, rational reason that we should waste time and resources prosecuting the elderly who are currently doing no wrong.

[Divair]

Name one logical, rational reason that we should waste time and resources prosecuting the elderly who are currently doing no wrong.

Closure.