Nazi woman brought to justice

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Sejanus
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Re: Nazi woman brought to justice

#31

Post by Sejanus » 30 Mar 2016, 01:49

steve248 wrote:In response to Sejanus practically all files of the "Central Office for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes" i.e. the Zentrale Stelle at Ludwigsburg are available for examination by researchers in the same building. The files available are managed by the Bundesarchiv.
https://www.bundesarchiv.de/bundesarchi ... ex.html.en

The only files that are not available, are current investigation files.

If a file was closed last year it is available for examination subject to standard Bundesarchiv conditions at all their locations.

The USHMM in Washington DC have digital copies of all Ludwigsburg files up to the early (or mid?) 1970s. Only available by personal visit, not on-line.
Thanks for the information, Steve.

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Gorque
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Re: Nazi woman brought to justice

#32

Post by Gorque » 30 Mar 2016, 11:26

Jason24 wrote:
Gorque wrote:So would you also refer to any of the many non-German non-party natives that worked in a German camp outside of Germany proper a Nazi as well?
I think that it is similar , in the vernacular , to refer to them as Nazis , as it is to refer to their Soviet counterparts as "Communists" , even if they themselves were not actually party members.
Applyng your logic in naming conventions, then everybody in North Korea should be referred to as a fully emancipated individual as the full title of the nation is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 8-) There are reasons for the usage of strict naming conventions, such as avoiding confusion in communications as well as the negative/positive implications of misassociation. Take yourself, for instance; you are in the legal field. Is it correct to refer to you as a lawyer?

A Nazi refers to a member of the NSDAP and this individual was not a Nazi.


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Gorque
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Re: Nazi woman brought to justice

#33

Post by Gorque » 30 Mar 2016, 11:38

wm wrote:
Jason24 wrote:For example , the get away driver at a bank robbery would be considered to be guilty of armed robbery , even though the driver did not personally threaten anyone with a gun.
This is because the driver is an accessory to crime, a person aiding or abetting another to commit crime.
But this woman (a young girl at that time) didn't encourage others to commit crimes (the abetting part), or help others to commit crimes (the aiding part).
She was a telegraph operator in a concentration camp.
Being a telegraph operator is not a crime, and being a telegraph operator in a concentration camp is not a crime too. Actually a concentration camp is not a crime in itself, as it's a form of detention frequently employed during war.

If anything, she was like a waitress serving dinners in her restaurant to known local gangsters everyday, or to a cleaning lady in a gangster's house.
Well said wm. If we follow Jason24 and Mary Jane's logic, then the waitress and cleaning lady are also culpable even though, unlike the get-away driver, they had no intention to commit or abet a crime and/or were powerless to stop it.

Isn't intention a crucial part in determining whether or not an individual committed a crime?

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wm
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Re: Nazi woman brought to justice

#34

Post by wm » 31 Mar 2016, 01:00

It seems knowledge that her action/inaction was helping the criminals commit the crime is sufficient.
But a free will certainly is required. But she, and the others were posted there, they had no choice. Of course some of them volunteered, but it was because the other alternative was the Eastern Front, and few people were returning from there in one piece.

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Re: Nazi woman brought to justice

#35

Post by David Thompson » 31 Mar 2016, 02:26

For interested readers -- There is an English-language translation of the current German Criminal Code available on-line at https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/engl ... _stgb.html. Among other things, it says:
THIRD TITLE
PRINCIPALS AND SECONDARY PARTICIPANTS

Section 25
Principals


(1) Any person who commits the offence himself or through another shall be liable as a principal.

(2) If more than one person commit the offence jointly, each shall be liable as a principal (joint principals).

Section 26
Abetting


Any person who intentionally induces another to intentionally commit an unlawful act (abettor) shall be liable to be sentenced as if he were a principal.

Section 27
Aiding


(1) Any person who intentionally assists another in the intentional commission of an unlawful act shall be convicted and sentenced as an aider.

(2) The sentence for the aider shall be based on the penalty for a principal. It shall be mitigated pursuant to section 49(1).

Section 28
Special personal characteristics


(1) If special personal characteristics (section 14(1)) that establish the principal’s liability are absent in the person of the secondary participant (abettor or aider) their sentence shall be mitigated pursuant to section 49(1).

(2) If the law provides that special personal characteristics aggravate, mitigate or exclude punishment this shall apply only to the accomplices (principals or secondary participants) in whose person they are present.

Section 29
Separate criminal liability of the accomplice

Each accomplice shall be liable according to the measure of his own guilt and irrespective of the guilt of the others.

Section 30
Conspiracy


(1) A person who attempts to induce another to commit a felony or abet another to commit a felony shall be liable according to the provisions governing attempted felonies. The sentence shall be mitigated pursuant to section 49 (1). Section 23 (3) shall apply mutatis mutandis.

(2) A person who declares his willingness or who accepts the offer of another or who agrees with another to commit or abet the commission of a felony shall be liable under the same terms.

Section 31
Withdrawal from conspiracy


(1) A person shall not be liable under section 30 if he voluntarily

1. gives up the attempt to induce another to commit a felony and averts

any existing danger that the other may commit the offence;

2. after having declared his willingness to commit a felony, gives up his plan; or

3. after having agreed to commit a felony or accepted the offer of another to commit a felony prevents the commission of the offence.

(2) If the offence is not completed regardless of his actions or if it is committed independently of his previous conduct, his voluntary and earnest effort to prevent the completion of the offence shall suffice for exemption from liability.

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Gorque
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Re: Nazi woman brought to justice

#36

Post by Gorque » 31 Mar 2016, 03:16

Thank you David for posting the link to the law.

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wm
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Re: Nazi woman brought to justice

#37

Post by wm » 31 Mar 2016, 23:35

The principals and secondary participants part from the German Criminal Code is quite similar to its equivalent from the 1931 Polish Criminal Code, so nothing revolutionary there.
The problem is the interpretation of this has been radically changed in Germany lately, not the code.

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