Nazi Hitman Unfit For Trial, Court Rules

Heinrich Boere, Member Of Hitler's Waffen SS, Killed Countrymen Who Opposed The Fuhrer

(CBS/AP)  The attorney for Nazi hit man Heinrich Boere says a German court has ruled that his client is medically unfit for trial.

Gordon Christiansen told The AP that the Aachen state court made its decision on Wednesday.

Both court spokesman Georg Winkel and Dortmund prosecutor Ulrich Maass refused to comment.

Maass brought charges in April against the 86-year-old Boere for the World War II murders of three men in the Netherlands when he was a member of a Waffen SS death squad that targeted civilians in reprisal killings for resistance attacks.

Though Boere was sentenced to death in absentia by a Dutch court in 1949 - later commuted to life imprisonment - German courts have blocked attempts to extradite him or enforce the verdict here.

The son of a Dutch man and German woman, Boere was 18 when he joined the Waffen SS - the fanatical military organization faithful to Adolf Hitler's ideology - at the end of 1940, only months after his country had fallen to the Nazi blitzkrieg.

After taking part in the invasion of the Soviet Union, he ended up back in the Netherlands as part of a unit known as Silbertanne, or Silver Pine, which was composed mostly of Dutch volunteers given the job of killing their countrymen.

The unit is suspected of 54 killings, and Boere admitted after the war while in an Allied prison camp that he took part in three slayings, according to Dutch court documents.

Boere also described his participation in killings during an interview with a Dutch newspaper last year, but said he was working in an official capacity.

"I didn't feel anything, it was work. Orders were orders, otherwise it would have meant my skin. Later it began to bother me, now I'm sorry," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

[rushman71]

Isn''t this great or what? The law system of today make me laugh. This man took part in killing innocent people back in WWII, but because he is "medically unfit for trial", they are being lenient with him. Throw the phuqer in a gas chamber!!!

[powmadeak47]

Christ! I word or too about his alleged medical problems would have been nice. I had to go to court when I was barely able to walk or speak because of MS.

Dip-#&$^ Dubya and Ocrapa claim to care so much about Jews, don''t they have a comment about this?

[dagrandma]

rushman71: Sounds like the appropriate plan to me.

[dooney8]

War is hell.

[dooney8]

what will it accomplish to kill an old, sick man? Revenge? Sounds like what he''s accused of.

[cbscrash072]

It seems to me they passed the law after the crime was committed. We have a clause in our constitution that forbids such things. It also seems to me that had he refused he would have been shot on site. 18 in a war zone. What do you do? Survive.

[zoopster1]

Nope, he has been free for far too long. He was found guilty and sentenced in absentia, so he should be handed over to serve his sentence.

[beewitchy1]

oh sure,now he feels guilty.boy that makes it all better.i bet he killed way more than 3 men too."aaaww geeze,im to sick."so what,the gas chamber sounds like a good idea.how about a bullet in the head.

[usclimey]

By Nazi standards this guy''s guilty of a mosquito bite. How many civilians did our snipers kill in WWII, Korea, Nam, etc.? Let the old guy live what''s left of his life in peace.

[xrugger70]

This Man was a member of a Squad that was equivalent to our special forces. He was not a member of the ''fanatical'' SS SA or SD. He is no more guilty than any specialized warrior we have in our military in the war against terrorism. Leave the man be...