Record (Kitchener-Waterloo) | Jun. 15, 2004 | Elisabeth Perrin Snyder
Letter to Editor

Leave Oberlander alone

After I read Len Rudner's Jun. 08, 2004 letter, Nothing Murky About Oberlander's Activities, I think he needs to re-evaluate what he considers fact.

First, there was no paper trail regarding Helmut Oberlander's entry into Canada. Second, he has never disputed the fact that he was conscripted into the infamous Einstatz Commando.

Rudner might do well to look up the word conscripted -- it means mandatory enlistment. Not to peacefully agree would have meant certain death. Many of my own relatives were also conscripted into the German forces in this way -- officials came to the door and with a loaded gun escorted these young men out of their homes.

No one denies that the Holocaust was an atrocity. But to continue to make an 80-year-old man, who has been an exemplary citizen, pay for the past smacks of outrageous revenge wrongfully placed. Enough tax dollars have been spent on this witch hunt.

The judges have spoken. Rudner needs to let it rest.

Elisabeth Perrin Snyder
St. Clements