The post you are reporting:
We have often heard that term before...I was only following orders. It is often used by arch criminals trying to squirm out from under their appalling crimes. But nevertheless in some cases it might just apply. Demjanjuk's trial has just begun but according to his lawyers he was a lowly youth being told what to do by the real criminals. The prosecutors claim he was at the Sobibor death camp in WWII in which 27,000 jews were exterminated. Demjanjuk denies being there but others say even if he was there, he would have been nothing but a very minor figure.
Lets face it, when we are young we stand around like wide-eyed innocents, or did in my day but of course the world isnt quite so innocent now. But in those times you were told to sweep up here, empty that bin over there, pull that switch there...and yes you followed orders, absolutely every order because A. you wanted to get on well in your job as they werent ten a penny and B. very often you didnt know any better.
Imagine if the individual soldiers who took part in an offensive in Afghanistan today, where innocent people were in advertently killed, and were then tried as war criminals later even though they were told to fire on the particular location, well then it would not be right. It is right in cases like the MyLai Massacre where a US officer went apparently 'nuts' in Vietnam and wiped out a whole village. But in this case it was the officer who gave the orders, it was he who was the real guilty one. They got the right man.
There has to be a point reached where the ordinary soldier, who is after all just a small cog in a large wheel, is not the REAL guilty one. Its in that large wheel where the guilt lies. Anyway isnt it the case that the ordinary individual was at that time very afraid to disobey for fear of being shot himself, if he didnt follow instructions. A regular occurrence in those times.
I know we all want to see the real perpetrators brought to trial, if any of them are still alive, but are we now getting desperate by persecuting nobody's on the grand scale of things to satisfy some spiritual need for retribution..