Ann
04-19-2003, 06:16 AM
--- Article (copied from BBC News, read original here (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2960397.stm))---
A judge in the United States has ordered the deportation of an elderly Ukrainian-born man accused of being a guard at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.
Theodor Szehinskyj, 79, is accused of serving in a Waffen-SS Death's Head unit during the war and helping to guard prisoners in the Fross-Rosen, Sachsenhausen and Warsaw concentration camps from 1943 to 1945.
A retired machinist, he has told investigators in Philadelphia he was a farmhand during the war and had nothing to do with the Nazis.
Mr Szehinskyj was born in what is now Ukraine, and has lived in the US since 1950.
His American citizenship was revoked nearly three years ago after a federal judge in Philadelphia found he had participated in "the Third Reich's closed culture of murder".
Correspondents say that the case against him was based, in part, on papers and lists found in Nazi archives. The papers identified Mr Szehinskyj by name, birth date, hometown and his mother's maiden name.
Justice department lawyers have been trying to deport Mr Szehinskyj since September.
If the deportation order is not appealed, it is unclear how soon he would be forced to leave or where he might go. The deportation order could send him to Ukraine, or alternatively to Poland or Germany.
--- End of original article ---
Am I the only one who finds this to be wrong? Not only is this man old and frail, but he has lived in the USA since the 1950's! Besides, during World War II you really didn't have a choice; either you supported the Nazis or you were in big trouble. Whatever bad things this man has done, he really was forced into it. Even if he did belive in the Nazi cause, can he really be blamed for that? It's as if in fifty years from now the Iraq war is commonly seen as completely wrong, and all the soldiers are to be deported to god knows where (please note: I am just making an allegory, not stating my opinion). We all know today that the holocaust was a horrible crime against humanity, but back then... I'm not sure people really understood what it meant to be a Nazi.
Well, I figured this might be able to spark an interesting discussion... I hope so atleast!
A judge in the United States has ordered the deportation of an elderly Ukrainian-born man accused of being a guard at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II.
Theodor Szehinskyj, 79, is accused of serving in a Waffen-SS Death's Head unit during the war and helping to guard prisoners in the Fross-Rosen, Sachsenhausen and Warsaw concentration camps from 1943 to 1945.
A retired machinist, he has told investigators in Philadelphia he was a farmhand during the war and had nothing to do with the Nazis.
Mr Szehinskyj was born in what is now Ukraine, and has lived in the US since 1950.
His American citizenship was revoked nearly three years ago after a federal judge in Philadelphia found he had participated in "the Third Reich's closed culture of murder".
Correspondents say that the case against him was based, in part, on papers and lists found in Nazi archives. The papers identified Mr Szehinskyj by name, birth date, hometown and his mother's maiden name.
Justice department lawyers have been trying to deport Mr Szehinskyj since September.
If the deportation order is not appealed, it is unclear how soon he would be forced to leave or where he might go. The deportation order could send him to Ukraine, or alternatively to Poland or Germany.
--- End of original article ---
Am I the only one who finds this to be wrong? Not only is this man old and frail, but he has lived in the USA since the 1950's! Besides, during World War II you really didn't have a choice; either you supported the Nazis or you were in big trouble. Whatever bad things this man has done, he really was forced into it. Even if he did belive in the Nazi cause, can he really be blamed for that? It's as if in fifty years from now the Iraq war is commonly seen as completely wrong, and all the soldiers are to be deported to god knows where (please note: I am just making an allegory, not stating my opinion). We all know today that the holocaust was a horrible crime against humanity, but back then... I'm not sure people really understood what it meant to be a Nazi.
Well, I figured this might be able to spark an interesting discussion... I hope so atleast!