Polish prosecutors seek the arrest of a 98-year-old Minnesota man suspected of Nazi war crimes.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Mon Mar 13, 2017, 08:40 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Associated Press Twitter feed

Polish prosecutors seek the arrest of a 98-year-old Minnesota man suspected of Nazi war crimes.

Link to tweet

The Latest: Nazi hunter praises prosecutors' arrest efforts

WARSAW, Poland (AP) The Latest on Poland's announcement that it will seek extradition of a Minnesota man accused of being a Nazi unit commander (all times local):

3:50 p.m.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center's top Nazi hunter is applauding Polish prosecutors for deciding to seek an arrest warrant for a 98-year-old Minnesota man suspected of war crimes.

Efraim Zuroff told The Associated Press by phone from Jerusalem on Monday that "it's high time that the Poles became more active seeking people who committed crimes in World War II on Polish soil."

He says any legal step "sends a very powerful message."

Michael Karkoc was put under investigation after the AP published evidence in 2013 establishing he commanded a Nazi SS-led unit accused of burning villages filled with women and children. His family denies he was involved in any war crimes.

Read more: https://apnews.com/e8cc4f58f6f04d1e942ae936e921a5fd

[Docreed2003]

1. I'm reminded of the opening speech in "Patton" when he says "What did you do in the great WWII?"

Referencing grandchildren asking their grandfathers....

If this turns out to be true, I hope this man faces the full extent of the law for his crimes. That being said, I can't imagine waking up in 2017 to news that granddad may have been a Nazi responsible for such heinous crimes....incredible.

[briv1016]

2. You see this kind of Nazi war criminal I have no problem with prosecuting 70+ years after the fact.

It's when they go after guys that were drafted and ordered to man a guard post that I think they are being ridiculous.

[TheDebbieDee]

6. Four or five years ago I remember reading abt

a telephone or radio operator at one of the camps - I didn't feel that answering a phone at a death camp was worthy of war criminal status but perhaps they were able to prove he did other things, too...

[Sunlei]

3. Much love to The Simon Wiesenthal Center.Be a better world if there were more, they've hunted alone

for 50? years.

[Hortensis]

5. No, they really haven't, even though some conservative

factions and officials with sympathetic viewpoints in many nations have sought to block efforts to identify and extradite Nazi murderers. Our own nation has famously given new homes to some and extradited others, depending on many factors.

[Sunlei]

7. Are their any other Nazi-hunter non-profit organizations you know of?

That's what I meant. There should have been hundreds of Nazi-Hunter Centers, find them all decades ago. For all the harm nazis did everyone of them should have been hung.

I know even America allowed in thousands of Nazis, many had friends in high places. I'm sure plenty of nazis filled out fake American immigration papers.

Republicans should pull those papers and check them for immigration fraud.

[Hortensis]

8. Sure. I can't trot out lists of names, and most have folded

over the decades. Certainly virtually all government officials involved in tracking these people down, especially in Europe, or hiding them, have retired. Mr. Wiesenthal and his organization were the most famous, and among the most successful, but many others worked with them, alone, and in independent efforts in many nations and on various continents without being lionized. As one would expect.

Murder of millions on this planet was hardly new, but this wasn't the kind of distant heathen, non-white corner where westerners imagined it could only happen. White Christians in an very advanced nation where strong liberal, progressive culture was common did this. Most people were horrified and wanted to make sure it could never happen again.

They also wanted to know why, how it could happen, which is how we came to learn more about different kinds of conservative personalities, especially social conservative, and also about authoritarian personalities, seen on the right--but also the far left. And, critically, what happens to their consciences when they decide on a leader to follow. (They basically surrender them to the leader's keeping.)

[Hortensis]

4. As long as Karkoc's not too demented to be accountable, good!

Commander who committed mass murder, burned people alive.

If found guilty, Karkoc faces life in prison. Bitter joke.

Karkoc in 2014 and 1940

[COLGATE4]

9. Unfortunately capital penalty is not available.

[BigDemVoter]

18. I agree that he technically 'deserves' it.

But I bet he'd rather be executed than slowly rot in prison by himself!

[COLGATE4]

19. Well, in that case I'd be happy

to accomodate him.

[WhiteTara]

10. I hope he lives long enough

to stand trial. He needs to take responsibility for his inhuman actions.

[Xolodno]

11. Take note...

He isn't in South America or Syria, but here in the USA. Which could mean he could have been "protected" for awhile for some purpose.

I recollect reading that a number of Nazi's were brought here with the offer they reveal what they knew and supported US Government efforts and the US government would look the other way about them living here, but wouldn't help them if they were discovered. Given the worst of the worst and high profile Nazi's fled anywhere but allied nations, no one thought to look for them here for a long time.

[Archae]

12. It wasn't just Nazis.

The commander of the Japanese germ warfare "research" unit in China during WW2, was allowed to live out his life here in the US, to help the Pentagon with their germ warfare "research."

[Xolodno]

13. Didn't know about that...

...learned something today, thanks.

[Yupster]

14. Interesting article but needs more detail

It doesn't say how he caused the death of 44 people.

Did he lock them in a church and burn it down? Or did they die because he burned down their crops and homes? The article doesn't say.

Scorched earth is an interesting war tactic.

Field Marshall Von Manstein was convicted of it and imprisoned while he retreated to the Dnieper River in 1944.

When Germany invaded Russia, the Russians used scorched earth to slow down the German pursuit. That was considered a brilliant tactic. When Germany used it to slow down the Russian pursuit in 1944 it was considered a war crime.

The law needs clarification.

Is it okay for Russia since they won?

Is it okay if you burn down your own country, but not another's. Anyway, needs clarification.

[Demsrule86]

16. He was a member of a SS unit...there sole job was to kill Jews. Gypsies and other undesirables.

The murders he would be prosecuted for were reprisal murders...one of his officers was killed.... i am sure there were elderly people among his many victims...so he deserves what he gets.

[Yupster]

17. Don't know about this unit, but SS units

did a whole lot more than kill Jews and Gypsies.

Some SS divisions like Das Reich and Totenkopf fought in the front lines of every major battle in the war. Other SS units battled partisans, guarded prisons and concentration camps, etc. There was even a Muslim SS Division that fought Serbs in Yugoslavia complete with lightning bolts and fez hats.

[FiveGoodMen]

15. Screw that. Go after the 70-year-old New Yorker planning to commit more of them!