It would seem to me, from this brief description of Kunz's involvement, that he was an unwilling accomplice. Born near or on the Volga river in Russia, he joined the Russian army. He was captured by the Germans and given the choice of joining them or remaining in a prisoner of war camp. A side note to Russian Prisoner of War Camps: Not as bad but nearly as bad as a death camp for gypsies or other undesirables. His living conditions would be extremely harsh. The 3-6 month life expectancy for Russian prisoners (and others) probably helped to influence Kunz in making his decision.
It is necessary to understand the circumstances and conditions which surrounded events such as Kunz and others. We need to recognize how he found himself in that situation, acknowledge his ability to survive - not only in the German camp but after the war, he avoided the Russians, who would most certainly have killed him had they discovered his conversion.
And then, once we acknowledge how he was forced into this untenable situation - Mr. Kunz should be executed. The crimes for which he is responsible are too great to go unpunished. I recognize the situation he was in and that each of us wants to live, but he did not give that chance to the scores he helped to murder and the tens of thousands he watched die. Some crimes are too great, no matter what conditions may have existed to precipitate their involvement in the heinous acts which followed ...
You are caught up in a whirlwind of events in which you are pulled into a gang. You do not know anyone but the lowest guy on the totem pole, who knows only one other person. Two of the senior members kidnap three girls, bring them to the gang clubhouse where they are held for several days during which time they are raped by everyone several times, sodomized, and otherwise sexually degraded. After the rapes the two senior members who started the whole process, murder the three girls, and you are given the task of disposing of the body. Eventually the bodies are discovered and CSI is on the job, soon after that the police begin arresting members of the gang, and eventually you. In Court you are charged with rape, kidnapping, sodomy, and murder. Heinous crimes most certainly, but what should the outcome be? Life in prison without the possibility of parole and castration. For the two senior members - death.
I give the example to place the outcome of Mr. Kunz into some perspective. Heinous acts were committed by the gang, but the magnitude matters. Mr. Kunz had a choice - he could have, should have, reflected on the events unfolding before him - day 1 he would have witnessed enough evil to understand he was in the midst of the mother of all evil - the Nazi death machine. He could have run away, he would have been killed. He should have simply killed himself, or if he did not have the courage to do that, to say no to what was expected of him and face the consequences. Because he did not have that courage and participated in a great evil, he needs to be punished.
Assume that the gang member pulled into the gang escapes justice, he flees to Iowa where he lives the next 55 years of his life as a model citizen. When he is about 71, he is discovered when his fingerprint is checked nationally against a cold case in the city where the crime occurred and somehow it all comes together. He is arrested and charged with rape and sodomy and murder. What should the penalty be? Prison for 20 years. He could, in theory, get out of prison when he is 91, and given the fact he was 16 when the crimes were committed - it would be reasonable. I would make a few allowances for family to visit and spend time with him, but he would still be punished for the crime.
There is a difference in the quality of the actions - Kunz versus the hypothetical gang member. That difference should distinguish their punishment and is the reason why Kunz should still face the death penalty.
We do not wish to change you, we do not wish to make you a useful member of society, we need to expunge you from society, for the good of society. Versus the gang member who, while an accomplice to murder and deserving of prison, does not rise to the same level and therefore, even decades later, does not deserve the same fate he would have faced 70 years earlier
'Nazi's 430,000 deaths'
By VINCE SOODIN
July 28, 2010
The Sun.co.uk
A SUSPECTED Nazi death camp guard has been charged over the murders of 430,000 Jews.
Samuel Kunz, 88, allegedly served Hitler's Third Reich in the Belzec camp in occupied Poland during World War Two.
He is number three on a most wanted list of ex Nazis.
Kunz was charged after prosecutors said he served as a guard from January 1942 to July 1943 where it is claimed he helped exterminate Jews.
He is also accused of the shooting a total of ten Jews in two other incidents.
Top Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff said Kunz participated in the so-called Operation Reinhard to eliminate Polish Jews.
Mr Zuroff, from the Simon Wiesenthal Center which fights anti-Semitism, said: "The indictment of Samuel Kunz is a very positive development.
"It reflects recent changes in the German prosecution policy, which have significantly enlarged the number of suspects who will be brought to justice."
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German officials are now considering whether and when to hold a trial.
Kunz was found living near the western German city of Bonn after his name came up in investigations connected to the trial of another suspected Nazi John Demjanjuk.
Demjanjuk, 90, is currently on trial in Munich on charges of being an accessory to the murder of 28,060 Jews as a guard at Poland's Sobibor death camp.
He denies he was ever a camp guard.
Prosecutors allege both Kunz and Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk, a retired Ohio car worker who was deported to Germany from the US last year, trained as guards at the Trawniki SS camp.
Kunz, whose family is German, was born in August 1921 on Russia's Volga River and joined the Red Army, claims Klaus Hillenbrand, a German expert who has written several books on the Nazi period.
But during World War Two he was captured by the Germans and given the choice of either staying at a prisoner of war camp or cooperating with the Nazis, said Hillenbrand.
Adolf Storms, a 90-year-old former SS sergeant who was number four on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of most-wanted Nazi war crimes suspects, died earlier this month before he could be brought to trial.
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