The Link Crazy that this story is still around. I actually recall it being news in the late 70s/early 80s. So many people are saying he was an infamous guard in the concentration camps, and others say that was someone else. Who knows what to believe. I don't see a problem punishing a 90 yr old man if he actually was that guard but I also wonder if he is a scapegoat for people that want someone punished for the terrible crimes that occurred there, so they want him to be Ivan the Terrible guard. Not sure we will ever know the truth.
That's pretty crazy. So I know Israel, as well as the German authorities and independents like Simon Wiesenthal have been hunting down former Nazis since the end of the war; but why don't we ever hear about Russian guards who took part in exterminations as well? I'm not trying to downplay what the Nazis did, but it gets a lot more notoriety than what Stalin/the Russians did, even though Stalin killed 20 million people. Maybe I am too young at 28 to remember anything from any of the Soviet trials or were they just never prosecuted under Communist rule?
I agree that Stalin was on Hitler's level as a mass murderer but how would you propose going after the Russian war criminals after WWII; invade them? BTW, there's a great miniseries on PBS right now that uses a lot of newly discovered Soviet/Stalin archives to reenact a "behind the scenes" docudrama. It's called "World War II: Behind Closed Doors". Really fascinating stuff if you're a WWII buff. The Link
I recommend two books.... "End Game - 1945" and "After the Reich". Read those and you'll never look at Wolrd War II the same.
some considerations: 1. the soviets didn't lose power in the same way as the nazis. 2. Stalin killed much more arbitrarily. the nazis went after something closer to genocide. specifically, they went after a group of people (among others) which was very cohesive due to historical persecution. This was a small but powerful group of people with the means and will to pursue retribution.
