UNBELIEVABLE!! Nazi guard spinoff...

Just found this on the BBC... he was extradited from the U.S. but was FREED by Austria the next day, saying he couldn't be put on trial because of the Statute of Limitations had expired!

Sometimes I really do think there is no justice in this world...

"Austria frees 'murder pits guard'

Josias Kumpf left Austria in 1956 to settle in the US
A former SS man alleged to have taken part in the extermination of 8,000 Jews in one day has been freed by Austria, a day after being extradited from the US.

The Austrian justice ministry said the former guard, 83-year-old Josias Kumpf, could not be put on trial because the statute of limitations had expired.

The US says he acted in the killing and burial in pits of Jewish interns at the Trawniki camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

He left Austria in 1956 to settle in the US, and became a citizen in 1964.

The US justice department sued to strip Mr Kumpf, who lived in Wisconsin, of his citizenship in 2003.

Austrian justice ministry spokeswoman Katharina Swoboda said Vienna had warned the US that Mr Kumpf would not be prosecuted in Austria because the statute of limitations relating to his crimes had expired in 1965.

"We have always pointed out to the United States that he cannot be charged here with the crimes of which he is accused," she said.

'Orders to shoot'

The justice ministry also said Mr Kumpf had been a teenager at the time of the alleged offences and had never been an Austrian citizen.

The opposition Greens have called on the government to amend the law to allow for the prosecution of alleged Nazi war criminals regardless of the time elapsed.

The US justice department said on Thursday that Mr Kumpf had admitted that he stood guard over a pit where prisoners were being gunned down and "finished off" the wounded.

Mr Kumpf was found to have served as a guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Germany and Trawniki in Nazi-occupied Poland, where the mass shooting took place in 1943.

His assignment had been to watch for victims who were still "halfway alive" or "convulsing" and prevent their escape, the US justice department said.

There was no immediate comment from Mr Kumpf or his lawyer, Peter Rogers. They have in the past denied that Mr Kumpf had a role in any atrocities."


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Message edited 3/20/2009 9:33:49 PM.

Re: UNBELIEVABLE!! Nazi guard spinoff...

"The justice ministry also said Mr Kumpf had been a teenager at the time of the alleged offences and had never been an Austrian citizen."

... and THIS means he isn't responsible?!

he "finished off" the wounded. this, makes me sick

i try to not wish harm to ANYONE. i hope this man's days are torture and that he dies a miserable death alone and scared (for beginners).

Re: UNBELIEVABLE!! Nazi guard spinoff...

You have got to be kidding me-and the Austrian authorities actually have the nerve to back peddle and defend this disgusting waste of human life-"he was only a teenager"-as an attorney who has represented many teenagers on criminal charges, I can tell you that quite a few get hard time in juvie for a lot less than this "thing" is getting. He murdered innocent people-a LOT of innocent people, and everything is all hunky dory.

I hope he rots in hell I pray he gets what he deserves. That could have been one of my family members that he shot to death.

Re: UNBELIEVABLE!! Nazi guard spinoff...

I know that several countries have an exemption for the statute of limitations if it involves a war crime. I just can't believe Austria, who was SO involved in the holocaust, wouldn't extend the same grace period for atrocities that occured during the war.

It's just disgraceful and is such an incredible insult to all the survivors and their families. It's a smack to the face, downplaying the significance of what happened by the lapse of time

Re: UNBELIEVABLE!! Nazi guard spinoff...

Posted by Bxgell2

I know that several countries have an exemption for the statute of limitations if it involves a war crime. I just can't believe Austria, who was SO involved in the holocaust, wouldn't extend the same grace period for atrocities that occured during the war.

It's just disgraceful and is such an incredible insult to all the survivors and their families. It's a smack to the face, downplaying the significance of what happened by the lapse of time

Re: UNBELIEVABLE!! Nazi guard spinoff...

I responded in the other post that I didn't know how I felt about it since the man was 83.

After reading everyone elses responses I totally agree, he shouldn't get away with it just because he is 83. I just had the initial thought of 'man, the guys 83, I couldn't hurt an 83 yo' KWIM?

He should be made to stand up for what he did and take his punishment in payment for all the lives he took. He lived free for so many years while so many suffered and the families continued to suffer.