US deports 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard from Tennessee to Germany
Friedrich Karl Berger participated in ‘Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution’
www.independent.co.uk
US deports 95-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard from Tennessee to Germany
- Thread starter Charlemagne
- Start date
www.independent.co.uk
This is just smoke:
The US has deported a 95-year-old Tennessee man who served as a concentration camp guard. But despite the efforts of Nazi hunters, he won’t be prosecuted in Germany, which has been paying him a pension for “wartime service.”
Friedrich Karl Berger was deported to his native Germany on Saturday, a year after an immigration judge in Tennessee ordered him removed due to his “willing service as an armed guard of prisoners at a concentration camp where persecution took place.” Berger had lived in Tennessee since 1959, but served in 1945 as an armed guard of concentration camp prisoners in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp system, where prisoners were forced to labor “to the point of exhaustion and death,” in the judge’s words.
Touching down in Frankfurt, the nonagenarian Nazi was questioned by police but not arrested, as German prosecutors had dropped their case against him last year, after they could not prove his complicity in any abuse or killings.
The US has deported a 95-year-old Tennessee man who served as a concentration camp guard. But despite the efforts of Nazi hunters, he won’t be prosecuted in Germany, which has been paying him a pension for “wartime service.”
Friedrich Karl Berger was deported to his native Germany on Saturday, a year after an immigration judge in Tennessee ordered him removed due to his “willing service as an armed guard of prisoners at a concentration camp where persecution took place.” Berger had lived in Tennessee since 1959, but served in 1945 as an armed guard of concentration camp prisoners in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp system, where prisoners were forced to labor “to the point of exhaustion and death,” in the judge’s words.
Touching down in Frankfurt, the nonagenarian Nazi was questioned by police but not arrested, as German prosecutors had dropped their case against him last year, after they could not prove his complicity in any abuse or killings.
76 years ago would be 1945 so he would be 18-19 tops in 1945 so he could/would have been tried right after the war. 18 was usual minimum military age but with the war going badly for Germany, Hitler youth (HJ) were being sent to the front and elsewhere at as young as 12 especially for the defense of Berlin. the allies often classed those 18ish and under as young followers and cut them lose after the surrender. HJ was not optional and most German boys were in it. They also used old men
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No there is not a lot to think about. He was a guard at concentration camp where innocent people were starved to death, murdered and worked to death in the service of the Nazi war machine. Some of the most vicious animals "worked" at the camps, including German women barely out of their teens- thankfully most of them were hanged after the war. And before I hear the "no choice argument"- they were all members of the SS, a wholly volunteer organization. Besides, things were a bit different back then. The man who dropped the bomb on Nagasaki was 25 years old and already a major-war is a young man's game.
easy most of them got away with it, after the Nuremburg trials there was little interest/effort in going after the former low level Nazis in Germany many simply went home and went back to civilian life. The allies had no interest in running Germany after the war so they needed the expertise of many of them, the guys on the special weapons projects Wunderwaffen are well known for the us space program. former Gestapo officers were used to run police forces after the war as they had prewar or were experienced in such. a whole unit of former Waffen-SS troops were used to guard prisoners at the trials after the war.
basically they got the big fish (or they were already dead) and then decided that's it, unless something super obvious came up they left them alone that changed in the 1990's a bit and they started going after others maybe the east German/ USSR records and documents became available I don't know
There's a decent Frederick Forsythe novel, The Odessa File about how the Germans just went back to "business as usual" after 1950 and the SS veterans were pretty open about their affiliation. There was just no appetite for charging Uncle Willi the local postman with war crimes and putting him in jail.
There was also massive war crimes guilt through most of the German army in WW 2, not just the SS. Most of the guys who served on the Eastern Front machine-gunned Russian women and kids, or knew of guys and units that did. So it was better to move on and "build a new Germany" and leave the past behind without digging into it.
There was also massive war crimes guilt through most of the German army in WW 2, not just the SS. Most of the guys who served on the Eastern Front machine-gunned Russian women and kids, or knew of guys and units that did. So it was better to move on and "build a new Germany" and leave the past behind without digging into it.
I know. Honestly, as much as I dislike the Bolsheviks, I have never faulted them for the treatment of the Germans during their drive to Berlin.
the Wehrmacht was found not responsible for war crimes due to its command structure, while individuals were found guilty but not the whole army. its a tough situation for those on the ground as the government AND the military command issued orders that absolved them from any crimes IE shooting partisan's and actually ordered them to do so
here's a quick read which quickly explains some reasons The Nuremberg Trials in 1945: The War Crimes Of The Wehrmacht (warhistoryonline.com)
The story didn't end with Nuremberg. Unlike Dubya in Iraq, the Allies decided that some state apparatus had to be kept in place to avoid chaos.
In the 60's when West Germany's economy was roaring, the Germans did most of the housecleaning themselves. Many low level Nazis were prosecuted and sent to prison.
Kate Winslet won an Oscar in a partial true story of 60's West Germany called The Reader. It's worth watching.
In the 60's when West Germany's economy was roaring, the Germans did most of the housecleaning themselves. Many low level Nazis were prosecuted and sent to prison.
Kate Winslet won an Oscar in a partial true story of 60's West Germany called The Reader. It's worth watching.
Thankfully, the Soviets were not that naive and punished the Wehrmacht equally and severely. When the Germans decided to strike East in 1939 and later in 1941 they followed their concept of the "total war" which made very little difference between the civilian and military targets. The German military used indiscriminate air and artillery attacks on villages, towns and cities without worrying about the civilian casualties. It was the attempt after the war to separate the "really bad Nazis" from the regular German soldiers just naively serving their country. It's a popular view even today, but one that has no basis in truth whatsoever.
Legally they were not prosecuted and the war crimes trials concentrated on very egregious examples. But the military records show a generally appalling record of war crimes by almost all German front line units on the eastern front.
It's the latest foofarah in the "military history reenactment" community, as almost no German unit did not commit war crimes in the East against civilians, PoW's, etc. It's not just a matter of stipulating that no one should reenact an SS unit. Even "apolitical / non Nazi" army units committed large scale civilian murders.
From the US perspective there's not much. If he lied on his citizenship application then his US citizenship is void.
Germany has more to think about on whether or how to prosecute.
