Those were the days

I found out a very weird thing today. Apparently until fairly recently there were regular reunions of ex-SS members.

That's the Nazi, murdering, homicidal maniac SS.

I can't quite believe it, though I suppose if the RSL and British Legion have beer and bowls nights for the old soldiers then the Germans must do the same. But really, the SS? Half of them are still wanted war criminals and the rest must surely feel a little embarrassed by their exploits. Perhaps that should be 'hopefully' not 'surely' as I'm not sure at all that they feel any remorse.

I can't imagine what they talk about. I know that lots of people do things in wartime that they would never do in peacetime, like killing the enemy and trying to keep away from the Americans friendly fire, but there can't be many hilarious stories about Zyklon B and Einsatzgruppen to reminisce over.

Apparently these reunions don't happen so much now, but that's not because the authorities shut them down. Most of reunions were in Bavaria (the home of the Nazi party, I say no more) and seemed to go ahead with no bother from the judiciary and police. I make no judgements but it seems a bit odd that no one ever got arrested. Especially when the Danish government and Wiesenthal Centre are still trying to get at some of the attendees.

I understand that they rarely happen now as most of the 'old boys' are dead or incapacitated. Seems like a lost opportunity for justice to me.

I was thinking of something else too, about Copyright. How come if you are an 'artist' or 'creative' you do something once, but then get paid for it for the rest of your life and 70 years after you die?

No other job gets this. I would love to do a filling on someone once and get paid every time time the recipient chewed or spoke. Or plumbers could get paid every time you used the tap they put in.

Can anyone explain why it's like this? Especially the after death bit, that just sounds like giving money to your less talented relatives.

I've had wide ranging day as you can tell.