peteblue
Welcome back Wayne
Don't get me wrong, anyone who knows anything about me knows that I believe in appropriate retribution and incarceration for those that have done wrong.........but.....
'Reinhold Hanning, 94, is accused of serving as an SS Unterscharfuehrer - or sergeant - between 1943 and 1944, a time when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were gassed to death at the camp.
He is one of four former Nazi guards being put on trial for war crimes this year, following an 11th hour push by German prosecutors.
Survivor Leon Schwarzbaum, 94, the first witness to give evidence at the trial next week, still vividly remembers how the 'chimneys were spewing fire... and the smell of burning human flesh was so unbelievable that one could hardly bear it'.
At the age of 94, he's probably worked out that what he did was wrong, and probably spent many nights awake as a result. If he didn't, then he has to live with it. I am not one of those who forgives easily, and it's a failing of mine, but he's 94, and I do not see any benefit in keeping a 94 year old behind bars......I apologise to any who lost family as a result of what he did, but as many of us lost family during the war anyway, it's time to let go............
'Reinhold Hanning, 94, is accused of serving as an SS Unterscharfuehrer - or sergeant - between 1943 and 1944, a time when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were gassed to death at the camp.
He is one of four former Nazi guards being put on trial for war crimes this year, following an 11th hour push by German prosecutors.
Survivor Leon Schwarzbaum, 94, the first witness to give evidence at the trial next week, still vividly remembers how the 'chimneys were spewing fire... and the smell of burning human flesh was so unbelievable that one could hardly bear it'.
At the age of 94, he's probably worked out that what he did was wrong, and probably spent many nights awake as a result. If he didn't, then he has to live with it. I am not one of those who forgives easily, and it's a failing of mine, but he's 94, and I do not see any benefit in keeping a 94 year old behind bars......I apologise to any who lost family as a result of what he did, but as many of us lost family during the war anyway, it's time to let go............
