Pardons plan for 'traitors' killed by Nazis

[Colin1]

By Allan Hall
in Berlin

GERMANY is contemplating a pardon for Nazi-era 'traitors' executed by military courts in the Second World War.
As Valkyrie - the Tom Cruise film about the plot to kill Hitler - draws crowds, the thorny issue of exonerating thousands of men executed for acts against the Nazis is going through parliament in Berlin.
One such man was Pte Johann Lukaschitz from Vienna, sentenced to death in 1944 aged 24 for 'failing to report a planned act of treason' - a secret cell of malcontents in his unit.
Speaking about Valkyrie, his friend Ludwig Baumann said "How can we celebrate Stauffenberg as a hero when a friend of mine is still considered a traitor?"
Parliament approved a reprieve for Nazi-era deserters and conscientious objectors in 2002 but those convicted of treason were excluded.

The Daily Telegraph
Friday January 30 2009

 

[Venganza]

Talk about a day late and a dollar short! Reminds me of the posthumous rehabilitations of people executed under the Stalin Terror.

Venganza

 

[Vassili Zaitzev]

Better late then never!

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Me and my wife were talking about this the other day. It is a shame that it was not done sooner.

Did you know that the families of these so called "traitors" did not receive pensions or any recognition after the war either. There was an interesting documentary on this on German TV the other day.