05-13-2011, 09:23 PM
rjmacs wrote:
You still haven't answered my question about whether German citizens who stayed silent as the Holocaust was carried out are accessories to murder? Are they all guilty of genocide? Ought they all face prosecution?
No. Complicitness is not legally the same as being an accessory, although it may morally be of the similar despicableness.
No. Without direct participation, those persons are (generally) not guilty of attempted genocide. Those that did aid the murders may be guilty (see "accessory" ).
Before I answer the last question I'd like you to answer this:
If a person stands a few feet away and silently watches without taking any action for several hours while a young girl is beaten, raped and ultimately butchered just a few feet in front of him, is that person guilty of a crime? If so, what crime? Should that person be prosecuted in a criminal court?