Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Better Late Than Never? Germany Decides To Investigate Nazi War Criminals 66 Years After WWII

USA Today: Germany reopens hundreds of Nazi probes

Nearly seven decades after the end of World War II, German authorities have reopened hundreds of dormant investigations of Nazi death camp guards in an eleventh hour attempt that could result in at least dozens of new prosecutions, The Associated Press has learned.
Special Nazi war-crimes investigators reopened the files after the conviction of former U.S. autoworker John Demjanjuk, whose case set a new legal precedent in Germany, said Kurt Schrimm, the prosecutor who heads the unit.

Given the advanced age of all of the suspects, investigators are not waiting until the Demjanjuk appeals process is over, he said.

"We don't want to wait too long, so we've already begun our investigations," Schrimm said.

It only took them 66 years after the end of the Second World War to reopen these cases. Talk about the wheels of justice grinding slowly in Germany.

Glad they didn't wait much longer, as it appears up until now that they wanted all the murderers to die peacfully in their beds before they face any justice.

One reason among many for this inexcusable neglect is that six million dead Jews don't vote in German elections, but millions of former Nazis do, and often.

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