A former Auschwitz guard, Reinhold Hanning, is being charged with 170,000 counts of being an accessory to murder by approximately 40 holocaust survivors. Hannning worked at Auschwitz for 2.5 years (January 1942 to June 1944). After joining the Hitler Youth in 1935 at age 13, he joined the Waffen SS in 1940. He was moved to Auschwitz after suffering battle wounds. He claimed that at first he did not know what was going on at the concentration camp, but after he worked there long enough he figured it out. He said in court "people were shot, gassed and burned. I could see how corpses were taken back and forth or moved out. I could smell the burning bodies; I knew corpses were being burned." Hanning said that he has not spoken of this, even with his family. He apologized, but many think that is not enough. Hanning could possibly face up to 15 years in prison, but because the appeals process takes so long, and because he is so old, they do not think he will serve that long.
Questions:
The persecutors do not think that saying sorry is enough. What do you think would be enough? Or what do you think that they would think is enough?
Do you think Hanning should be put in prison?
My Opinion:
I think Hanning was in a very tough position. He could try to do something about it and probably end up with all the other people being persecuted or he could do what he did and just try to blend in. Although people do need to stand up in order to make a change, that can be very tough to do and in this case I don't think it would have made very much of a difference if he would have done something about it. He is obviously horrified by it if he still, many years later, does not talk about it. There is not very much he can do about it now, and I don't think he should be put in prison. There are many many people that could have done something more to imprison only him is unfair.
Link to original story.
Replies
Super job Alana!
I think he now understands how severe it was. Since he is so old, I think he should just spend a couple years in prison.
I think he didn't really have a choice whether or not he wanted to be a guard. This was a long time ago, and if he hasn't done anything wrong in the past years after the holocaust he should not be punished. I do not think he should be put in prison. He could have chosen to try and hide but instead he admitted to doing wrong. I think that is enough.
I agree that saying sorry is not enough. He played a role in the death of hundreds of thousands of people and deserves to be punished for it, just like everyone else would be. Seeing as he's been charged for 170,000 murders, and has even admitted to and apologized for them, he deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison or to be executed.
I am sure that it is hard enough on him the way it is, knowing that you are helped in killing many people. The former guard wasn't one of the people who planned it or anything so I think that he is fine. He should apologize to each and every victim and that would be plenty. He has to live with what went on for the rest of his life, that is punishment enough.
So, they are basically putting him on a war crimes trial, of sorts? I understand wanting him to do more than just apologize because or the murders, but that was 70 years ago. So he's like 83 years old. If you think that he should go to prison because of what he did, then don't you think you should track everyone else who was involved and put them in prison too? It's pointless. He was part of the Waffen SS, he fought for the German's, for his home country. He's probably very ashamed for what he did during WWII, which is understandable.
A public sorry in front of the whole world and give the survivors something that is valuable that he is willing to give too them as a token of him being sorry. probably that. Nope, if he is already too old that putting him in prison is just overkill.
I think Hanning could say a lot of things about the reasons why he did this but at the end the important thing is what he did and he was part of all this deads so I would definitely say that saying sorry is not enough. I think he should be in prison even if he is old and this event happened a long time ago. I just put myself in the shoes of the victims and their families and I would be really sad and I would want tomeone to make justice.
I think he should be put into jail for sometime. I am sure those people would think that 'enough' is putting the guard through what they went through. I think he should, at least for some time.
i think he didnt really have a choice not to join unless he want to die. He was still responsible for all those deaths. He needs to be put in prison for life or killed
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