Poll: Would you harbor a nazi?

[Sehnsucht Engel]

No. I wouldn't help him. I would probably turn him in, if the police was after him.

 

[captainwolfos]

Sure, if his name was Oscar Schindler.

And with that, I have no other real opinion on the matter.

Though if the guy was crying like you say, then I'd probably say yes just to shut the guy up. I'm soft like that.

 

[Antari]

No I would not. As much as they may say their life depended on it. They made a choice. One I would never have made. I would not forgive myself if I had made that choice, so I cannot help them.

 

[babinro]

I believe everyone deserves a chance...but that does not mean they should be free from the criminal system. If the police came looking for this person, I would not stop them.

 

[Conza]

Along with the other 47 people that have voted for option C at this time, no Nazi deserves harbour, the fact that they are 'sorry', or were good citizen is completely irrelevant, the notion that because he was a good man, allows him to get away with participating in the crime is appalling, and as a man of Jewish heritage, I'd kill a hundred thousand Nazis if it would make a difference to what happened back then.

Rehabilitation is not an option for these people, they could not possibly recover from a million years of treatments, their nationalism destroyed their humanity, and there is no way 'any' of them would deserve any less than instant death.

 

[ShadowsofHope]

Wow, definitely a show of unbridled hatred and murderous intent in this thread by some posters.

To answer the question, however.. no, I would not. I wouldn't harbor a repentant former Nazi, and I wouldn't stop the police from arresting him either. I see no reason to put myself between either of them, in this scenario.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

Because of his apparently guilt over what he did and his kindness over the years, I wouldn't turn him over to the police. I wouldn't do anything to help him hide though, he's on his own with that. I don't care if you feel horrible for what you did, you still did it and there are consequences that you'll have to face up to. Of course if I felt that his "guilt" wasn't genuine I'd turn him over in an instant. Being involved in something like that and then pretending to be sorry just to get out of you punishments seems even worse to me. Plus he's getting off easy. If he was involved in the Holocaust he would be really up there in years. He isn't gonna be in jail that long.

 

[slowpoke999]

I personally believe what the Russians and Japanese did in the war and after was much worse then what the Nazis did,the Russian troops raped and killed a shit-ton of post war civilians and the Japanese committed so many war crimes it'd make the worst video game enemies blush.

 

[orangecharger]

They couldn't do anything about it. They were fools, and have changed. One exception. If the words or phrase "I was just following orders." come out of their mouth, I'm turning them in. To quote The 9th Doctor: "And with that sentence, you just lost the right to even talk to me."

So let's just see. They who win get to decide what a War Crime is.

We have international law and international treaties for that.

We sure do, many of them came out of the two world wars because the winners decided what the losers were doing was not up to snuff.

Yes. Anyone who is guilty of a war crime should be charged and prosecuted.

Got anyone from team good guys that's ever been found guilty of a war crime? How about the POWs in Gitmo and their ritualistic torture? I believe that's one of those things those treaties you speak of protect people from. I believe Commander In Chief is considered an officer right? So sanctioning that activity would fall at their feet? Do you honestly believe the reason no one has been found guilty is because there haven't been any crimes on the team good guys side? Or is it as I said, the offended (not offending) countries don't have the strength or desire to continue to pursue "war criminals" from more powerful countries.

If given a choice of your own life against a stranger's -- if we had the proverbial gun to our heads and all we had to do was have some stranger killed not even by our own hand (just give the order) -- how many of us would truly be martyrs?

Then you need to understand that there may be consequences for your actions. But once again, in this example we are dealing with an OFFICER in a DEATH CAMP. This isn't your average soldier who was unaware or just did nothing.

As if the officer gets any more choice than the soldier. The only guy with the choice is the guy at the top. Everyone else it's fall in line or join the prisoners. Did anyone dare defy Hitler or his top officers?

War Crime is an oxymoron -- War is not civilized. War can not be held to the ideals of times when we are not at war.

No, but we still have standards for war. Having those standards benefits us all.

Except those who we feel don't deserve the rights of those standards. Torture is abhorrent unless WE need to do it to get important information. As I indicated -- rules only need to followed by countries weak enough to have them forced on them by stronger military forces.

In the interests of full disclosure -- my grandfather was 100% German spoke only broken English, but as a recent immigrant took up arms for Canada in WWII - he survived the war, but died of complications from injuries he sustained while fighting. I never met the man, but my father has explained that a hard man, came back a changed and harder man than the one who left. I am glad he fought for the allies, but had he not left Germany, we would have been faced with the same decision everyone had. Fight the enemy and do as you are told, or you are the enemy. Perhaps he would have made his stand and I would still not have ever met him. No one can say for sure.

 

[TheSchaef]

No. I don't have a boat.

 

[FatherSpleen]

I'm not one to judge people by past actions of others, but I still wouldn't because I don't help bigots.

 

[Individuo]

If he pays his rent and holds his pro-Nazi meetings somewhere else why not?

 

[Doth]

Shame he is repentant. That being said I'd still help him.

 

[Gigano]

Well, if as in the presented scenario he's my good friend, of course I'm not going to turn him in. I haven't abandoned friends who've made missteps in the past, and I'm under no legal obligation to report him anyway.

We have statutes of limitations for a reason. The war lies 65 years ago, and I subscribe to the notion that if you improve, so should the treatment of you [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat].

 

[Pyro Ghost]

If he's a good guy and fun to be around, sure. People do horrible things every day. The people who see someone being murdered and walk away are at least as guilty of the death as the murderer themselves. But those people still see themselves as good people. If an ex nazi has reformed and made up for it, than justice has been served. Wanting him to be punished further is just revenge.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

Because of his apparently guilt over what he did and his kindness over the years, I wouldn't turn him over to the police.

Let's try changing this up.

A catholic priest had sex with little girls and boys (say infant to 8 years old) at a church orphanage from the time he was a priest in training at 18 until he was 30. He was introduced to it by his bishop and all the priests at the orphanage did it. They said god wanted them to have sex with the kids. At 30 he was transferred somewhere else where there was no access to kids and he started feeling guilty. He spent the rest of his being a truly perfect/giving person who did nothing wrong and was what everyone would consider an ideal human being.

When he is 80 one of the victims comes forward, the rush starts, he confesses that he did it but was a changed man, haunted by his past.

Do we forgive him for raping those hundreds of little kiddies?

Now lets talk about the one priest in the orphanage that didn't touch a child, but knew what was going on and did nothing to stop it, and even helped cover it up. Do we forgive him after his 50 years of feeling bad?

For the first guy: Nope. I wouldn't. But like I said, I wouldn't do anything to help him escape. And considering the situation, it looks like the police have him. He has to pay for his crimes and hopefully he understands that. The only reason why I wouldn't turn either of them in (as in go to the police and tell them I have them) is because of their apparent change and guilt (but like I said, only if I feel it's genuine). I'm not forgiving these people, I'm just understanding that they seem to regret what they've done and because of that, I'll stay neutral when it comes to action.

As for the second guy I'd let him live with the guilt. Sure he didn't do anything but he helped cover it up, so he can deal with the guilt.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

Um...well my Grandfather fought for the Nazi army in Stalingrad, and he was a great guy, so sure, I'd look after the guy.
Hiding them from the police though...
...well, that wouldn't happen. End of the day, it's like saying would you hide an immigrant in my house. I'd be willing to help them, but not to break the law.

So yeah.

 

[Kenko]

They couldn't do anything about it. They were fools, and have changed. One exception. If the words or phrase "I was just following orders." come out of their mouth, I'm turning them in. To quote The 9th Doctor: "And with that sentence, you just lost the right to even talk to me."

Yeah whenever i here american, russian or any soldier speak those words after having committed atrocities i become disgusted.

 

[Mr Binary]

Sure, he made mistakes and he changed. There is no point in punishing him if he truly changed and felt guilty.

 

[beema]

I think the obvious question here is: what crime are you harboring him from?

Is this some new crime that he has committed? Cause I'm pretty sure the police aren't out tracking down ex-nazi's from WW2.

Also the title should be changed to "ex-nazi," and the first poll choice is worded strangely too. "They have changed their ways." Who? Nazis? I'm pretty sure nazi's are still evil. If, however, the person in question has resigned their old beliefs, then it's kind of different.