Talk:Josef Mengele/Debate Guide

Debate guide, not arguing article

I reiterate that I, in my own words, have never called Mengele a "war criminal". Robert Jay Lifton, then of CUNY and now a semiretired visiting professor at Harvard Medical School, a distinguished writer on The Genocidal Mentality (coincidentally the title of another book), is quoted in using it in a very specific context -- the quote makes no sense if the words are elided.

Nevertheless, if we follow Russell's suggestion of making this a debate guide, comments about specific articles are irrelevant.

If I write a "maybe", I'd further contextualize his quote. My "maybe" position, really more appropriate to war crime than Mengele alone, is that the unqualified term was used in 1945-1950 historiography and precedent-setting tribunals. It is not used in contemporary international law or historiography. Insisting on rigorous in the past is presentism; Lifton's reference was for impact and can be contextualized. Howard C. Berkowitz 16:19, 22 November 2010 (UTC)