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• RE: SS officers were the worst of the worst...shame on you! - jamesgarvin 08:38:13 11/09/07 (0)
  In Reply to: RE: SS officers were the worst of the worst...shame on you! posted by eppis1 on November 08, 2007 at 22:12:17

  I sense confusion. I'll expound. I understand that members of the SS were, as rule, members of the Nazi party. But your post assumes that everyone who was a member of the Nazi party were "believers." I have no doubt that there were members of the SS who became members because it was a way for them to move up into German society, or the ranks of the German government. Those who believed that the persecution of the Jews and other undesirables was wrong, but their own desire for power, prestige, etc. outweighed their conscience. Although different in scale, Dennis Kucinich has displayed the same moral relativity: a life long opponent of Abortion, he suddenly became pro-choice when running for Presidenct. Or Romney, a longtime pro-choice advocate, who becomes opposed to abortion when running for President. They put aside their moral beliefs when it became expedient to do so.
  
  Now, to this character. Now, let's look at some facts, which we will assume are true. Upon finding out she is Jewish, he does not turn her in. He negotiates with the resistance to prevent the deaths of prisoners, at the risk of execution, things a "true believer" would not do. Is it not possible that the SS officer was not a real advocate of murdering innocent people, but, as long as it appeared the Germans would win the war, he condoned that activity, but that when defeat was imminent, he began to feel more comfortable differing with the regime?
  
  Those are certainly potential facts. And facts have no value, in and of themselves, independent on the value people place on them. The film merely recites those facts. Why get your panties up in a bunch because the film merely recites the facts. Neither the film, nor I, placed any value upon the facts. You seem uncomfortable accepting facts that are not in your world view. All Nazis are bad. They all did the same bad things. For all the same reasons.
  
  So, what is the ultimate value of those facts? My personal take, which I would have at least appreciated a request for before you launch into a mindless tirade, is this: He went along with the Nazis, and probably called himself a Nazis, because it was expedient for him to do so. He was complicit in the murder of people. For that, he should have been executed along with the rest of them, because, murder is murder, whether it was because of prejudice or because he wanted a nice office. The allies would likely have executed him (although I find it ironic that the death penaly opponents here are the first to call for their execution.)
  
  But these values do not change the facts that this SS officer had, for lack of a better word, a change of heart. I think your hatred has blinded you to the real possibility that such a conversion is possible, and confused for you the distinction between what happened, and whether such a conversion changes the results. I think the conversion is certainly possible. I do not think it should change the penalty.
  
  As to the difference between a German soldier and a SS officer, do you think that the recipient of the bullet in the brain, or their respective family members, really gives two shits about whether one was a Nazis and the other not? Perhaps you are the one in need of some sensitivity training.
  
  

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