How German It Is: Sentences Suspended for Tormenting a Young Jewish Man The defendants insisted that the assault had been “light-hearted.”
https://www.frontpagemag.com/how-german-it-is-sentences-suspended-for-tormenting-a-young-jewish-man/
EXCERPT
Just to make absolutely sure there would be no further executions of Nazi war criminals, in 1949, the West German government passed a law prohibiting capital punishment. It was, in effect, a way to prevent hundreds of thousands of people involved in mass murder of Jews, prisoners of war, and Resistance fighters all over Europe from ever receiving the punishment they deserved.
Such indulgence brings us to the recent story of three German men who, found guilty of having repeatedly whipped, beaten, and insulted a Jewish man, were nonetheless received suspended sentences. That story is here: “German Elite Fraternity Students Responsible for Antisemitic Assault Receive Suspended Sentences,” by Ben Cohen, Algemeiner, December 8, 2022:
Three German students from an elite fraternity who were charged with beating a Jewish student and subjecting him to antisemitic insults have been handed suspended sentences by a court in the city of Heidelberg.
The three convicted individuals — who all received suspended sentences of eight months and no financial penalties in Thursday’s court verdict — were members the right-wing nationalist Normannia student fraternity. A fourth member of the group accused of involvement in the assault was acquitted.
The incident occurred at a party at the Normannia fraternity’s mansion at the University of Heidelberg on Aug. 29, 2020. A 25-year-old student in attendance who spoke about his Jewish ancestry was berated with antisemitic abuse, whipped with belts and pelted with metal coins by the four assailants.
These students at what is described as “an elite German university fraternity” regularly greeted each other with the words “Heil Hitler” and used the word “Jew” as a pejorative, according to one of the fraternity’s former members, Karl Stockmann, in an article he published in the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel. That disenchanted former member of the fraternity described the antisemitism and glorification of Germany’s Nazi past that prevailed at the Normannia fraternity. He left the group, “repulsed” by the behavior of fellow members of the fraternity, citing as an example their habit of drinking heavily while listening to recordings of Hitler’s speeches.
“Almost every day, somebody greeted me with ‘Heil Hitler,’” Stockmann revealed.
Stockmann stressed that the attack on the Jewish student at the fraternity party could not be regarded as an isolated incident.
“When I was at Normannia, the word ‘Jew’ was considered a common swear word in the mansion, comparable to ‘asshole’ or ‘motherf*****,’” he said.
Another commonly-heard slogan was, “We are Hitler’s people, then and now,” Stockmann said.
During the trial, the defendants insisted that the assault on the Jewish student had been light-heartedly intended, claiming as well that the victim knew in advance that the practice of “belting” [i.e., whipping with belts]was a fraternity tradition he might be subjected to at the party, according to German media outlets.
The assault was “light-heartedly intended.” Yes, think of just how light-hearted that victim must have felt as he was beaten with belts, pelted with metal coins, and constantly insulted as “a Jew.” All in good fun, or so his three tormentors claimed. What spoilsports these Jews are –can’t they take a little light-hearted fun without making a big deal about it? Always complaining, never willing to join in the merriment. No wonder no one likes them.
Judge Nicole Bargatzky demurred, however, stating that “from fun to bitter seriousness, [the victim] was placed in a corner as a Jew.”
During the proceedings, investigators complained about a “wall of silence” from witnesses who were at the party, with many claiming they were too inebriated to remember clearly what had happened, German broadcaster SWR reported. Lawyers for the accused asserted that while the students on trial had engaged in an “inexcusable act” triggered by a “toxic mixture of worldview and drunkenness,” the lack of reliable witnesses meant that it was impossible to determine who was responsible for the assault.
For god’s sake, all three students were involved in tormenting “the Jew.” It hardly matters which ones took part in whipping him, or who joined in the general hilarity of throwing metal objects at him, or who forced him to stay in a corner to be beaten while everyone watched with amusement; they were all participants, all guilty of this atrocity.
Yet the German court did not punish them for those activities that they engaged in, as they claimed, so “light-heartedly.” They received suspended sentences of eight months. No jail time. No fines for those students, who loved to listen to recordings of Hitler’s speeches, to talk of “motherf***ing Jews,” and proclaim “we are Hitler’s people, then and now.” No justice for “the Jew” they had tormented from this court in Heidelberg. Would it be wrong to draw a line connecting this latest miscarriage of justice, and what went on in German courts after the war, when no war criminals faced the death penalty, and sentences that previously were handed down by Allied courts were so often commuted?
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