Exile or Mercy for Old Nazi Guards

To prosecute the guards now would be completely absurd. I do not, in any way, condone the violence that occurred during World War II and the Holocaust, and like most, I find it overwhelmingly unethical and repulsive. That being said, I do not believe that these elderly men, who were once forced into a compromising decision, that being death, or joining the Nazi regime, be prosecuted.

On September 14, 1940, the United States passed the first peacetime draft in U.S. history. What this draft did is require any male between the ages of twenty one, and thirty to register with local draft boards. Draftees were selected through a lottery. If you were one of the many soldiers whose name had been drafted, you were faced with two choices, to enter the military, or to serve time in jail. The connection I am trying to make is this; many soldiers joined the military during these times not because of interest in defending their country, but in fear of serving time in jail. The men being spoken of in the article were in the same unpleasant situation, except theirs was a little worse. The consequence of not joining the Nazi regime was not jail time, but death. I whole heartedly believe that they did not take up these jobs because they were interested in extinguishing the Jewish community, but they did this to spare their own lives.

You may bring up the issue of, “Well, if they knew what was happening is wrong, then why did they not speak up?” I think the answer goes back to what I mentioned earlier; the fear of their own lives being taken away. We need to understand that during the WWII era, Democracy was not instilled in Germany, and freedom of speech was not valued. This means, those who decided to courageously revolt what the German government was doing at the time, were likely to be killed.

Another thing that confuses me is this; why wait over sixty years to exile these Nazi guards? We can agree that thinking of the Holocaust now, and thinking of the Holocaust thirty years ago, brings back the same feeling of disgust, can we not? Then why did they not prosecute these men thirty, forty, or fifty years ago? I believe that the government has only one reason for going after these men now. To create a better image of ourselves.