Do you agree with this? More details inside?

Question

Suppose a man/woman from World War II is on trial. She/He is german and she/he claims he was 'brainwashed' by Hilter. Say, if she/he didn't kill, torture, or use violence on Jewish women, children, men, the German soldiers would kill his relatives. She/He tortured many Jews, even killed some of them, and use violence on Jewish children and women as well as men. That person claims that they were brainwashed and afraid. But they still did what they did, it was their actions not anybody else's. And what about the people who didn't raise up to do that to Jews but they still did it to Jews. They did the horrible crime and they should be punished. Do you agree?

Debate in class

Answer 1

The person that did the deed and those that ordered the deed should be punished.

When Patty Hearst, daughter of a publishing millionaire, was kidnapped she was brain washed by the SLA and forced to participate in a bank robbery. She claimed that the gun she held (AK-47) wasn't even loaded. Still she was found guilty for taking part in the bank robbery.

The Nuremberg trials addressed your question specifically. It said that just following orders is not an excuse. Therefore the Nazi Concentration Camp guards were just as guilty as those Nazis who told them to abuse the prisoners.

Check out my answer: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnbSjJYWmMGbz1M_41uwIVDsy6IX?qid=20060919192528AAiWrkT
It poses a similar problem. Can a soldier disobey an unlawful order?

Also check out this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Trials
Then check out this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuremberg_Defense
“The Nuremberg Defense is a legal defense that essentially states that the defendant was "only following orders" ("Befehl ist Befehl") and is therefore not responsible for his crimes. The defense was most famously employed during the Nuremberg Trials, after which it is named.

Before the end of World War II, the Allies suspected such a defense might be employed, and issued the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal, which specifically stated that this was not a valid defense against charges of war crimes.

Thus, under the Nuremberg Principles, "defense of superior orders" is not a defense for war crimes, although it might influence a sentencing authority to lessen the penalty.”

So if the soldier is given an unlawful order, if his family is at threat or if his own life is at threat, that soldier MUST refulse to obey that unlawful order.

Now bring up this issue in class, “What constitutes an unlawful order, and if the officer that is giving that order is holding a gun on soldier, what does the soldier do.” And please as a US Army Veteran, I would like to know what your class said.

Answer 2

The German state during the Third Reich was unique because it was the only authoritarian state to ever exist. Was what they did any different than what we are doing to prisoners at Gitmo? Or at Abu graib? A human can be forced to do anything if they are presented with no other choice. Some years ago an experiment was conducted to see how far a person would go if given no choice. What happened was that most of the people turned into cruel monsters who would inflict pain on their fellow man. So was Germany any worse than our current use of torture in holding Iraqi and Al Qaeda prisoners? Some of the tortures we use on them are really horrible.

Answer 3

It was pure b.s. that the Germans were forced to kill Jews or that they were brainwashed. A researcher in the 90's, I forget his name or title, proved what I had always suspected, that the German people really wanted the Jews dead. he even quoted sermons in church as early as pre-1900 who said the Jews must be exterminated.

He also supplies documentation that soldiers were neither forced to kill Jews, nor were punished if they declined.

Nations go crazy against a hated group just as we are doing with the Mexican illegals, while pretending, gosh, its just the fact that they are illegal. It's not, it's racism as insidious as the Nazis in WWII times.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

I'm sure that there were many who did and were never prosecuted. It's not unusual for those in fear to take the side of their victimizers. No, they should not be punished. They will punish themselves enough. My father ws a WW@ vet. He once told us about how many camp survivors killed themselves after liberation because they had done this very thing. He thought that they couldn't stand themselves anymore and weren't afraid of prosecution like the Nazi 's were.

Answer 6

I do agree; there have been many cases where brainwashing was obvious and obstructing to the victim's ability to think and act as they normally would.

For instance, a young child who was told to shoplift something by their mother. Would you hold the young child responsible, or would you blame the mother for using her power over the child to do something wrong for her own gain?

Hitler had the amazing ability to manipulate, and I fully believe that he used that power to brainwash, scare, and threaten his followers into doing his dirty work. If someone pointed a gun down your throat and told you to kill and/or torture someone, or die yourself, what decision do you think you would make?

75% of you are lying when you say you'd elect to die yourself.

Answer 7

One is respsonsible for their actions whether it is forced or voluntary. Even if they are brainwashed, it is not an excuse because that does not provide any kind of consolation to the family members.

Answer 8

a person must be responsible for his/her own actions, circumstances may had pushed people to act in a certain way but we are the ones which ultimately make the decision of how we are to be.

Answer 9

You are what you do.