# Killing a nazi guard **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 1, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698 "2016-09-01T20:29:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/1 "2016-09-01T20:29:36Z")
Let’s say it is 1950 and a young polish woman sees a German man who personally participated in the medical torture and death of her parents and brothers at Auschwitz. Enraged she runs up to the man and kills him on the spot. What should happen to her? ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/2 "2016-09-01T20:33:35Z")
There’s a lot of times where the law and morality don’t really match up, but I don’t think this is one of them. Sounds like she committed manslaughter with some mitigating factors. I’d say she should be prosecuted as such. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/3 "2016-09-01T20:41:38Z")
What’s a “Natzi?” ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/4 "2016-09-01T20:47:53Z")
Convicted of homicide, but given a light sentence. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/5 "2016-09-01T20:53:08Z")
I wonder if she could claim temporary insanity caused by the treatment she received. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/6 "2016-09-01T20:56:33Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > I wonder if she could claim temporary insanity caused by the treatment she received. Don’t insanity claims have like a 1% success rate? ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/7 "2016-09-01T20:57:47Z")
> [@yellowjacketcoder](#): > > Don’t insanity claims have like a 1% success rate? how often are they used by a person who was tortured by the person murdered? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/8 "2016-09-01T21:13:40Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > how often are they used by a person who was tortured by the person murdered? She would first have to prove that he was indeed that person, wouldn’t she? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/9 "2016-09-01T21:17:51Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > how often are they used by a person **who was tortured by the person murdered?** Not to nitpick, but you said: > [@drewder](#): > > Let’s say it is 1950 and a young polish woman sees a German man who personally participated in **the medical torture and death of her parents and brothers at Auschwitz.** ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/10 "2016-09-01T21:31:21Z")
You might be interested in reading this story from yesterday’s Washington Post about the [last surviving Nuremburg prosecutor](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-last-surviving-nuremberg-prosecutor-has-one-ultimate-dream/2016/08/31/3b1607e6-6b95-11e6-ba32-5a4bf5aad4fa_story.html?tid=ptv_rellink). > [@](#): > > He remains frustrated that despots and terrorists are killed instead of tried in criminal courts to deter further aggression. He would have brought Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden to trial in international court. I think he would prefer the young woman to contact the authorities so that the Nazi guard could be tried for his crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/11 "2016-09-01T21:51:19Z")
She should be arrested, but the prosecution would likely drop the case due to no real chance of a conviction. Not having been tried, she could be tried in the future should it turn out that she had been less than honest or not correct. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/12 "2016-09-01T22:35:55Z")
She should wake up to the fact that its 2016 and all those people are long dead? Even the actors who played them in the 50s and 60s are dead now. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/13 "2016-09-01T22:39:00Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Not to nitpick, but you said: And you don’t think that would be torture even if they did nothing to her? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/14 "2016-09-01T22:39:20Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > She should wake up to the fact that its 2016 and all those people are long dead? Even the actors who played them in the 50s and 60s are dead now. You didn’t happen to notice that the OP started with “Let’s say it is 1950”? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/15 "2016-09-01T22:49:05Z")
_biting tongue_ I am not going to make a 50’s era sexist joke. I am not going to make a 50’s era sexist joke. I am NOT going to make a 50’s era sexist joke… ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/16 "2016-09-01T22:54:09Z")
The OP doesn’t say where the killing takes place in this hypothetical. Given that a Polish woman and a German man were involved in 1950, it is most likely that it took place in Poland or in East Germany, both of which had Communist governments installed by Stalin after the war. So any result is going to depend both on the formal law of those countries, and on the attitude of the ruling Communist Party. ---
**Author:** ![Navigator66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/43a26b/32.png) [@Navigator66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navigator66)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/17 "2016-09-01T22:59:19Z")
I took the OP as, the young Polish woman was in Poland in 1950. (Which was under Soviet control) If so, the KGB would investigate/interrogate. If he was found to have been a camp guard, she would be given a Hero of the Soviet Union Medal. Otherwise off to the Gulag. ---
**Author:** ![Navigator66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/43a26b/32.png) [@Navigator66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Navigator66)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/18 "2016-09-01T23:08:32Z")
Too late for edit: Most likely nothing would happen to her, this was eastern Europe in 1950. In these circumstances, I’d give her a pass too. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2016, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/19 "2016-09-01T23:25:36Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > What’s a “Natzi?” Just an innocent mis-spelling. I’m sure the OP meant “Gnatzi”, a small gnat. ---
**Author:** ![yellowjacketcoder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4bbf92/32.png) [@yellowjacketcoder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowjacketcoder)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2016, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698/20 "2016-09-02T00:20:00Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Just an innocent mis-spelling. > > I’m sure the OP meant “Gnatzi”, a small gnat. I did Nazi that coming… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killing-a-nazi-guard/764698.md?page=2)