Auschwitz guard goes on trial, says he shares moral guilt

Lauren Weinstein: The more you know about this case, the more you realize it’s a ridiculous prosecution at this point. Nothing better to do, Germany?

It’s too easy to seek justification for people who turned the other way or condoned crimes on an unprecedented scale, by saying: “They were just trying to survive”. A lot of people were not just trying to survive and took huge risks to fight nazism – for no glory or reward other than the knowledge that they did the right thing. I know that my family did the right thing and took huge risks, facing torture and certain death if caught – so there were other options and, luckily lots of people opted for them, regardless of the risk involved – or we would be all goose-stepping and raising our arm to salute since about 80 years.

I can only hope that I would do the same if I found myself in a similar situation. Time is a great healer, on condition that we don’t repeat the same mistakes – which we are doing, over and over again.

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LUENEBURG, Germany (AP) — Former SS Sgt. Oskar Groening told a German court Tuesday that he helped keep watch as thousands of Jews were led from cattle cars directly to the gas chambers at the Auschwitz death camp where…

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