Am I Apolyton's Only Conservative?

[Ecthy]

Eichmann 'only' came up with scheduling for certain trains...

As soon as it is a very high position, you are to blame. It's simple, Schindler was just a minor factory owner. And BTW, there are many of those that exploited their workers in a very Nazi way. But because they were in minor positions, they never got blamed. Look into any major German company that has been there for a long time, you'll find accusations of delightfully exploiting slave workers anywhere... Siemens, Mannesmann, BASF (formerly IG Farben, they came zup with ZyklonB) and so on...

One of the loudest accusations coming out of the East was that many former Nazis (politicans, industrials) were not put into jail but reset to power and money in the west after the war. Although many were sued in a rather unfair victor court (or maybe not, it's not hte point now), many others had a chance to re-arise totally unharmed. However, if you were in a high position under Addi, you were basically screwed. Think Hess.

[Ned]

Ecthelion, What you are saying is very hard to accept. Speer is condemned and Shindler praised but they did the same thing, the only difference being that Speer had higher rank?

There has to be something more.

Ned

[notyoueither]

Speer was ultimately responsible for the use of slave labour which in many cases led to death.

Schindler was in a position to exploit that slave labour, yet went out of his way at great personal risk to save those he was responsible for.

Can you see the difference?

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Originally posted by Ned
I can hardly believe being in charge of war production per se is can be a war crime. We saw in the movie, Shindler's list, how one Nazi did his best to save the Jewish slave labor that worked in his factories.

Speer, to be convicted, must have been a ruthless killer as well. Does anyone know exactly what he did? The Britannica article does not say enough to make a true distinction between Shindler and Speer.

Albert Speer - Why don't you change you moniker to Shindler?

Ned

Because he's a Nazi sympathiser.

Read about the Nuremburg trials- focussing on conditions in factories such as Krups. A typical example would see Jewish slaves (or other nationalities) put into hard industrial labour under often hazardous conditions on an average diet of 300 calories per day. At gunpoint, enforced with brutal beatings. Under such conditions, average life expectancy was around 2-3 months, and thousands died. This was deliberate.

Is that enough of a ruthless killer? 20 years was a joke.

[Ecthy]

Originally posted by Ned
Ecthelion, What you are saying is very hard to accept. Speer is condemned and Shindler praised but they did the same thing, the only difference being that Speer had higher rank?

There has to be something more.

Ned

Yes yes yes... Schindler doesn't fit into that 'low rank' league... I was talking about industrials that, as I said, cheerfully welcomed slave workers, read BFB's post for the bloody details... Schindler was one of the few who actually wanted to do soemthing... but even if he had been evil he wouldn't have been sentenced to anything, since he was just a 'small fish' t osay the least.. .luckily enough he did do something (or at least that character represents those who actually did something) and saved some...

Now Speer is high rank and mass destruciton in one person, so 20 years are indeed odd... What was always beyond me is how Hess could get such a high sentence... he was high rank, but he opposed war plans and in '42 or so flew to the UK, got arrested there without ever being heard about his intents (or being taken seriously for that matter)... later on got a sentence that made him look like the inventor of all KZs...