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| 95 year old Jakiw Palij being taken by stretcher |
Is this the right thing to do?
I feel compelled to ask the most basic of questions after reading this story on CNN. The accused is Jakiw Palij, born in Ukraine 1923 in an area that is now part of Poland, a 95 year old man who is suspected of being a Nazi collaborator or prison guard. Nobody is absolutely certain what his role was during the Second World War. He apparently lied to US immigration officers when he arrived in the US during the 1950's. In 2001 he admitted he had worked in a German labor camp, but he claimed that he and other young men were coerced into working for the Germans.Obviously the US immigration authorities did not believe his claims of innocence, and thus deported him.They loaded him into a stretcher and sent him to Germany. If he was indeed a merciless Nazi camp guard that killed thousands of people, all well and good. But the records are few and poor, these events happened a long time ago and there are no witnesses. In the camp in which he is accused of having served, the records were never kept or were destroyed, and the prisoners were all killed. There are no eye witnesses. What evidence is being used against this man? Is the evidence factual, or is it based on assumptions, rumors, or innuendo? Lastly, and most importantly, what possible outcome can be derived from deporting and prosecuting a 95 year old man?
The Holocaust was a terrible part of human history, millions of people were systematically wiped out. Evidence taken at the various concentration camps can freeze the heart: photographs of starved people and thousands of bodies stacked in piles. The American soldiers that initially entered those camps became sick at the sight of the atrocities, and these were battle hardened men that has seen some of the fiercest fighting of WWII. Even the crusty General George S. Patton was left in a state of shock at the sight of what was discovered.
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| German civilians being forced to tour a liberated concentration camp viewing stacks of dead bodies |
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| Malnourished concentration camp survivors |
There can be no doubt that those responsible should face the most severe of penalties. On the other hand, there is limited evidence against Jakiw Palij. He may also have been a victim of the ruthless Nazi war machine, his service may have been coerced. Any trial against him could take years, years he does not have. Putting him in a prison cell at his age is simply ludicrous. He is 95 years old, he could die at any moment. We may never learn the truth.
What is the point of deporting him and attempting to prosecute someone at death's door? I'm not sure we are doing the right thing in this case.