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| Europe |
| Italy Indicts Three Ex-SS Members |
| 2004-01-13 |
| An Italian court indicted three former members of the Nazi SS Monday on charges of having carried out a massacre of 560 people in a Tuscan village, a local news agency reported. In August 1944, some 300 of Hitler’s elite SS surrounded Sant’Anna di Stazzema, which had been flooded with refugees, in what was supposed to be a hunt for partisans. Instead, they rounded up all villagers they could find - 80 percent of whom were women, children and elderly - and began shooting them, according to witnesses. Others were herded into basements and enclosed spaces and killed with hand grenades. Not the worst atrocity these particular bastards ever committed either, I’ll wager. The ANSA news agency said indictments were issued against Gerhard Sommer, 83; Alfred Schonenberg, 83; and Ludwig Sonntag, 80, all former members of an SS Panzergrenadier Division were indicted, the ANSA news agency said. The court in La Spezia, northwestern Italy, decided not to proceed with cases against two other former SS members and asked for further information on a third, it said. Judicial officials in La Spezia could not be reached for information after the ruling was issued late Monday. The accused were not in court Monday, ANSA said. Further information on the men was not immediately known. German prosecutors have also been carrying out investigations in the case and last year recommended the prosecution of eight men. Among those cited was someone referred to only as Gerhard S. Stuttgart prosecutors handling the German case could not be reached for comment Monday night. The Italian trial is scheduled to begin in April, ANSA said. Try ’em fair and hang ’em fair. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Kudos for the Italians for finally bringing these goons to justice. However, I can't help but get the sinking feeling that the reason these European courts are all hot to prosecute the long-ago crimes of anti-Semitic Nazis is to assuage their guilt over ignoring the current crimes of anti-Semetic Muslims. |
| Posted by: Captain Holly 2004-1-13 1:15:14 PM |
| #1 I've never been able to understand how guys like Karl Wolff escaped prosecution. I have no doubt Wolff cut a deal since he surrendered Italy, but he of all people certainly knew of all of the horrors of the SS and deserved the hangmans noose. Now that he's been dead for awhile I guess it doesn't matter, but it shouldn't make a difference whether you actually pull the trigger or you knowingly orchestrate the circumstances that enable others to, such as Wolff did. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2004-1-13 8:07:17 AM |