DandNHill

What an interesting conversation.

Remember Rolf wasn't born in our day. He grew up at a time Germany was in complete denial of the WWII atrocities. My guessing is he was told Dad was in exile because he had been accused of heinous crimes he didn't commit. Why then would Rolf report him? On the contrary he would believe he needed to protect him!!!

bats

Rolf is 10 years older than I am. According to this article His Secret Out, Rolf Mengele Talks About His Father - Mémoires de Guerre He was told his father was dead or in Russia. Interestingly he says that not resorting his fathers location protected the family from Tha fallout from a trial. Something I hadn't thought of. Yes I like to think I would report the father but how far would I go to protect my spouse and children?

DandNHill

I don't think I know what I would do unless I was in that situation.

When we still lived in England my oldest was accused of something and spent the night in a police cell.
When he came home he told me that what kept him going was that he knew I would be there for him no matter what - I brought my children up to know that Mum would always be there for them, whatever stupid things they did....I lived up to that promise that day and I'm glad he didn't feel alone. His father just sniggered and commented that he had brought it on himself.
Whatever my kids do I'll be there for them. Doesn't mean I'll lie for them just that I'll be there to help them pick up the pieces...

dave_j

Hmmm.. would I have informed on a member of my family, even one estranged and vilified?

I'm not sure that I would. Family pressure is a queer thing, not just from the accused but from all those about me would be a hard thing to suffer and I'm sure that I could make up all sorts of reasons to justify any action I might make or not make. It's not the same as bearing witness to some crime for which you have no personal involvement.

No doubt some would. You do hear of cases where family members surrender their kids to the police for having done wrong, but far more don't.

Jingsamichty

Retired?

Former Lancastrian

Not yet just doing a different job that doesn't require me to wear uniform.

Jingsamichty

Ooh, undercover work... do tell!

Shard

There is no definitive answer, but I think it can be. I think it's understandable. Does the obligation to society trump the obligation to family, not necessarily. Either the son has been culturally coded to protect family or it there is an element of self preservation or both.

Former Lancastrian

Too old for that crap
Lets just say I have a decent desk and a nice view at the moment. Now if your name was on a file on my desk that means Im preparing a file to send to the Immigration & Refugee Board Immigration Division to either keep you detained after being arrested or seeking a removal order to have you removed from Canada even if you were a Permanent Resident.

Jingsamichty

"The working class can kiss my ass, I've got the foreman's job at last....!"

BristolUK

Confession:


My mother used to work in the regional personnel office for the same gubmint department I worked for. During a period of industrial action she came home with a file on those of us who took strike action, so she could work on the necessary actions that would see salary payments reduced accordingly.

Nothing wrong with the actions, obviously, but it should have been done at the office rather than some sucking up to management unpaid overtime.

This was at a time when staff faced potential harassment from various National Front types and other nutters, especially for striking. Often abuse on the picket line. I used to get abusive mail at home every time I had a letter in the paper.

Unsecured Personal/identifying details taken out of the office was wrong but worse since it involved details of those on strike.

I said she shouldn't be doing it but it didn't make any difference.

I told my union rep and that stopped it.

I know, I'm going to hell.

caretaker

Thanks for posting this Bats, some of my relatives died in Auschwitz and Mengele could well have met them at the gate, but I never thought of it. It's situational; everyone likes to think they'd do the right thing but Rolf probably didn't have any qualms about keeping the secret. As shown in the documentary, Mengele went home for his father's funeral and stayed 6 weeks and the whole town didn't say anything, the family had a pipeline to get living expenses to him and he had the protection of the expatriat communities in South America and even some of the governments. If Rolf had aided Simon Wiesenthal in capturing his father he might have gotten a plaque in Israel but his name would have been scheiss back home.

bats

When I first read about Rolf I thought he should have shopped him especially as he didn't know him as a father but now I wonder what I would have done. The argument about protecting his family, his children, is a strong one