Spain demands extradition of 3 Nazi death camp guards

"A Spanish judge announced indictments on Thursday afternoon against three former Nazi death camp guards for genocide and crimes against humanity.

The three men - Johann Leprich, Anton Tittjung and Josias Kumpf - were charged in absentia for their participation in the killing of Spanish prisoners during World War II.

Judge Ismael Moreno of the Spanish National Court issued international arrest warrants for Leprich and Tittjung, both living in the United States, and Kumpf, who currently resides in Austria, demanding their immediate extradition to face war-crime prosecution in Spain.

Moreno will charge the 84-year-old men under Spain's observation of universal jurisdiction. This principle allows for Spain to claim criminal jurisdiction over the men, regardless of their nationality or country of residence, even though the crimes occurred outside of Spain."

Read more here:

Spain indicts 3 Nazi guards, demands their extradition | International | Jerusalem Post

 

Good stuff, best of luck to the Spanish judiciary with this one.

 

Wow. Don't really know what to think about this. Part of me would like to see them leave the 84 year old men alone to die in piece. The other part of me wants them to be prosecuted for their crimes, if indeed it is PROVEN that they committed crimes.

Reminds me of the story line in the movie about the kids from Hell's Kitchen neigborhood in NYC, that were sent to child prison for wrecking a mans hot dog stand. One of the prison gaurds abused them. Many years later they saw him in a diner, and killed him.

Proves that we should treat others they way we would like to be treated. Never know when you'll run into someone down the road that you did harm too. Pay back is hell, ya know.

 

I've always wondered, how do they find these cases so long after the war? Did they uncover new evidence, have a "name but not a face", etc?

What were the Spanish being kept for? I know officially they sided with the Axis but "partisan" forces did exist but didn't they number under 10 thousand?

 

Spain was neutral during the war, so what were Spanish Soldiers doing in Prison Camps? If they were Partisans, which are classified as Terrorists, do those same laws apply to them? (In regards to their execution).

 

The Spanish government had ties to the Axis governments IIRC. One mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter, it depends on whose eyes you look through.

 

I wonder if the prisoners were Republicans who were somehow interned during the Spanish Civil War.

 

Spot on DG, there's been mention of this before; http://www.ww2f.com/battle-europe/34311-spaniards-mauthausen.html

Personally I save my compassion for their victims. I'm getting weary of all these scumbags still being around, I'm almost tempted to apply for sponsorship from Mossad to go shoot the pigs myself.

 

Unless there is ample evidence those people were personally responsible for major crimes, and not just cogs in the machine, prosecuting an 80+ year old is just for "taking part" in someting that happened when he was in his twenties ago shows a strange sense of priorities (and I suspect a large desire for pubblicity) especially from a Spannish judge, after their Civil War some pretty horrible things were "forgotten to allow life to go on".
Barring a few exceptions the big culprits have been dealt with, for many "small fish" their "crimes" are comparable to other excesses that are routinely ignored, think for example of the percentage of Axis prisoners returned from the Soviet prison camps, AFAIK nobody is even thinking of going after the people responsible for that.
Reopening old wounds may satisfy some people's need for vengeange, and that's understandable, but I personally think WW2 is now more a matter for the historians than for the judges.

 

amazing! that it still is possible to manage to track these people down,and yes! have to stand trial,age is not a boundary if guilty of such crimes ..

 

Shoot the scum on the spot and save money.

 

BANG!!!!! Pmp40fire: done richard,

 

Richard

What a compelling idea - shooting people without a trial and conviction.

Maybe they could build special camps for them as well.

Richie

 

Presumption of Innocence is a great idea on paper, unfortunately the media especially in today's word won't allow it!

 

well churchill was against nuremberg..he had more in common with uncle joe than he would sometimes care to admit.

 

Against Nuremberg in favor of what alternative? I haven't heard about this before so I am definietly interested.

 

He rather hoped a lot of Nazis, esp. senior ones, would end up simply being shot rather than captured, making things a little simpler for all.