Hunting Nazis for a Better World

Genocide and mass atrocities are tragic but temporary conditions of humanity. When mass killing comes to a halt, perpetrators are not the only survivors. Surviving victims are strongly motivated to see perpetrators brought to justice. Others concerned with justice have an interest in the prosecution of perpetrators. When surviving victims and others refuse to accept any limitations on the prosecution of perpetrators, they can commit themselves to a hunt to the death campaign or a program of selective clemency. A hunt to the death campaign requires great expense and effort for perpetrators to be identified, exposed, and brought to trial. Adolf Eichmann eluded capture for years. Only an unrelenting hunt brought him to trial. Selective clemency raises more ethical questions about the intentions of those with the newfound power to grant clemency. By comparison, Wernher von Braun was granted selective clemency. Von Braun received only poetic justice for his role in the Holocaust.