Hell may freeze over......

[gimmethesimplelife]

Trump actually did something I very much approve of. He helped boot a 95 year old SS concentration camp guard back to Germany......apparently this individual was stripped of US Citizenship by a Federal judge back in 2003 but the fact that he did not hold German citizenship and was stateless via this decision slowed things down until Trump came along and did the right thing - helped see to it that this individual was a priority and had worked with Germany to have him extradited to Germany to face the German courts.

This one time I have to give Trump some praise ironically as it sounds in the name of Human Rights and Human Dignity. And what's more, the media is saying that supposedly this is the last known former SS guard in the US (alive at any rate). I hope this is true though I don't know how anyone could be 100 percent certain of this....on the other hand these folks that are still with us are now in their 90's - the herd has thinned considerably due to many such folks having passed by now.

Does anyone else share my joy that this individual is no longer on US soil? Rob

[iris lilies]

I heard some sort of story on the radio that must have been this one, and all I could think about was “how old is that dude, anyway?” So, 99 is pretty old. I have no “joy” but it is fine with me that this Nazi operator is gone although I do wonder how he has processed his actions during the war. Is he regretful? Does he have sorrow for his victims? He would make an interesting interviewee.

[catherine]

He would make an interesting interviewee.

Indeed.

[gimmethesimplelife]

I heard some sort of story on the radio that must have been this one, and all I could think about was “how old is that dude, anyway?” So, 99 is pretty old. I have no “joy” but it is fine with me that this Nazi operator is gone although I do wonder how he has processed his actions during the war. Is he regretful? Does he have sorrow for his victims? He would make an interesting interviewee.

Your post here was a gut punch to me, IL - let me explain as I totally understand that you did not mean it that way one iota. It's all me here and not you in this reaction. I have been doing some long long long postponed research into Austria's role in the Holocaust, in particular in regards to one of the most deadly of the camps. Mauthausen is the name of the place, very close to Linz, the one city in Austria that truly is ugly. Kind of like Austria's attempt at (sort of) recreating Detroit (though it's not anywhere near that far gone). Let's just say I'm not liking what I have been discovering. Of course I knew that Austria has a very dark past but I did not know of Mauthausen and the atrocities committed there.....nor did I know that a large percentage of SS guards and Nazi party administrators were actually Austrian nationals. It's a bit discomforting.......I'm very grateful that when I spoke of this to my Cousin Astrid in Vienna, she told me she supports me visiting Mauthausen to pray for the many dead and for the human race in general.

At any rate, to get more back on topic.....I agree that this man would be an interesting interviewee in the sense of how could he continue on with his life, recreating a new life for himself in America, after contributing to and witnessing such evil? How does one just pick up and move on with their life, seemingly with no intense moral issues whatsoever? How can this be? I honestly don't understand, I just don't get it. It would be chilling but yet fascinating in a way to get this man's take on this while he is still here to offer his take.........Rob

[Teacher Terry]

I had a Jewish supervisor at work whose grandma would only hire Polish woman to clean her house. She hates the poles because some of them turned the Jews in during the war and she wanted them to clean her toilets. Trump finally did something I approve of.

[Float On]

Your post here was a gut punch to me, IL - let me explain as I totally understand that you did not mean it that way one iota. It's all me here and not you in this reaction. I have been doing some long long long postponed research into Austria's role in the Holocaust, in particular in regards to one of the most deadly of the camps. Mauthausen is the name of the place, very close to Linz, the one city in Austria that truly is ugly. Kind of like Austria's attempt at (sort of) recreating Detroit (though it's not anywhere near that far gone). Let's just say I'm not liking what I have been discovering. Of course I knew that Austria has a very dark past but I did not know of Mauthausen and the atrocities committed there.....nor did I know that a large percentage of SS guards and Nazi party administrators were actually Austrian nationals. It's a bit discomforting.......I'm very grateful that when I spoke of this to my Cousin Astrid in Vienna, she told me she supports me visiting Mauthausen to pray for the many dead and for the human race in general.

At any rate, to get more back on topic.....I agree that this man would be an interesting interviewee in the sense of how could he continue on with his life, recreating a new life for himself in America, after contributing to and witnessing such evil? How does one just pick up and move on with their life, seemingly with no intense moral issues whatsoever? How can this be? I honestly don't understand, I just don't get it. It would be chilling but yet fascinating in a way to get this man's take on this while he is still here to offer his take.........Rob

Do you know much about your relatives and ancestry? How will you feel if this touches you closer than you think?

[Tenngal]

at 99, I am wondering if he knows much of anything about the past or now.................

[LDAHL]

Why be upset over the sins of past family members? Even if Rob’s family tree is full of genocidal war criminals, it says nothing about Rob. You see these television commercials for DNA tests with people enthusing about finding out “who they are”. I want to tell them they may be 42% Irish but they’re 100% ridiculous.

You are what you make of yourself. I could not care less how many of my ancestors were sneak thieves or murderers or New Dealers. Their shame does not attach to me.

[JaneV2.0]

Why be upset over the sins of past family members? Even if Rob’s family tree is full of genocidal war criminals, it says nothing about Rob. You see these television commercials for DNA tests with people enthusing about finding out “who they are”. I want to tell them they may be 42% Irish but they’re 100% ridiculous.

You are what you make of yourself. I could not care less how many of my ancestors were sneak thieves or murderers or New Dealers. Their shame does not attach to me.

Oh. Well then. Silly me--I'm fascinated by my ancestors, even the screwy ones. i guess I've been dismissed.

[iris lilies]

Why be upset over the sins of past family members? Even if Rob’s family tree is full of genocidal war criminals, it says nothing about Rob. You see these television commercials for DNA tests with people enthusing about finding out “who they are”. I want to tell them they may be 42% Irish but they’re 100% ridiculous.

You are what you make of yourself. I could not care less how many of my ancestors were sneak thieves or murderers or New Dealers. Their shame does not attach to me.

Hey, we just want to identify the coolest culture to appropriate.

I personally find Scottish baronial architecture, single malt Scotch (a newly acquired taste) and Celtic music more interesting than Leiderhosen, beer, and bratwurst. I prefer to be Scottish than Herman (although I am both) and would love it if we were descended from the hundreds of Stuarts born on the wrong side of the blanket.