Holy cow – seriously? We should stop prosecuting perpetrators of genocide (people who, you know, are actually found guilty and legally responsible for crimes against humanity) because “it needs to stop” or because the parent organization of most Nazi hunters is involved in lawsuits to reclaim Jewish monies?
There are some interesting elements in this statement to address, and hopefully my post will provide some food for thought.
The first is to think about the word “genocide”, and to think about how that word is selectively applied. According to Article 2 of the United Nations’ Resolution 260, the definition of genocide includes:
…… . . . . . .any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
• (a) Killing members of the group;
• (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• (c)
Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• (e)
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
In light of the fact that the SWC not only does *not *condemn, but in fact *honors *two former terrorists such as Menachem Begin an Yitzhak Shamir (who made it their missions in the Irgun and Stern Gang to drive out “alien” Arabs from their lands and replace them with international Jewish immigrants), it’s only fair to point out that they apply the term “genocide” quite selectively. This blatant double standard (genocide laudable against people they don’t like, but deserving of punishment when applied to their own group) makes questionable the Wiesenthal’s position when it speaks in righteous indignation regarding human rights, and raises the issue of whether or not it has the proper authority – or even the proper knowledge - to decide what constitutes genocide.
The second element of your statement – “does it need to stop?” – also merits consideration. Although some people are of the opinion that there should be no statute of limitations for legal action against alleged criminals, I’d like to point out that any organizations who had grievances against the Germans had ample opportunity and a very large and public platform from which to bring forth their evidence and accusations: the Nuremberg Trials of 1945-1946. That circus of a legal proceeding – the three enemies of the defendants sitting as judge, jury and executioner – should have settled the matter then and there. After all, that was the reason it was instituted, right – to address all supposed crimes in a thorough and conclusive way? To continue hunting for alleged criminals decades after an event, after which sufficient time has passed so that memories are rusty, and “eyewitness” testimonials can easily be manipulated, is hardly a defensible pursuit.
(
As an aside, do we not adopt a certain measure of suspicion / cynicism when random people bring forth accusations of clerical sexual abuse against the Church stemming from alleged interactions that happened years ago and based only upon their word? How is it that we can be rightly be sympathetic to Catholic claims of innocence, and yet be so bloodthirsty toward the Germans just because the word “Nazi!” is uttered? )
The third element of your post – the lawsuits filed to reclaim Jewish money – sheds some transparency upon the nature of the SWC. Frankly, it is a *huge *money-making operation, and this fact unfortunately will place it under a spotlight. The 2011 fiscal year IRS 990 form for SWC’s Los Angeles headquarters lists its total revenue at $21,386,453, some of which comes directly from American taxpayers in the form of US government grants. Its net assets are valued $66,4690,529.00. We should ask the American people to deliberate on whether the sniffing out of possible genocide perpetrators is a valid use of our money. I personally think it could be better spent elsewhere, but hey – I guess even California’s dire financial straits should take a back seat to hunting down nonagenarians across the pond.
The questions become: When is it ever enough? Can the hatchet ever be buried once and for all? At some point, does this become less about justice and more about self-serving, money-making propaganda?
opcorn:The SWC looks on the Germans as a cash cow,the Swiss and anyone else they can think of. If the old ladies tried, then house arrest,but that’s it. The SWC doesn’t seem to realize or care that all they are doing is formenting anti semitism,it’s not going to go away,and it will get worse. I know the jews have been persecuted for centuries.However, it’s time to get over the whole Nazi thing. For crying out loud, my late mother was Hungarian.The Turks came through Hungary,Romania,etc and raped ,pillaged and killed our ancestors.Yet I’m not busy trying to burn down mosques here in the states because of something that happend 500 or so years ago.