[ WP ] You travel to the future to find that Hitler is on trial , and his disappearance was in fact a future super police operation . The trial is public .

There he was, in the flesh. The most notorious evildoer of antiquity. Adolf Hitler. Well, he was no Yfrshi, who had eclipsed Hitler ’ s misdeeds by orders of magnitude only 500 years after him. But this was the most exciting trial scheduled for this decade; all the other trials were of less well known pirate warlords from the early days of space colonization. I could hardly believe I had actually secured tickets to Adolf Hitler ’ s EGDC trial, especially for such a price. I still had a *little* bit left in savings after the purchase. 
 
 “ The Eptergalactic Defensive Court will now hear the case of the apologant, Adolf Hitler, ” said the Butler, the overseer of the panel of judges. My clone sat up in her seat next to me. Everyone knew what the justification would be: investment in the future. He had already been convicted in another court, so there was no defense ( his defense of insanity by medication had gone south after an analysis of his brain ). Hitler had been in this time for over two years at this point, making his way through the top rungs of the galactic legal system. This was the end of the line, a sentencing court for his crimes against life in the Epterdisk of the galaxy. Fortunately for Hitler, the EGDC ’ s prestige afforded him an excellent suite of lawyers: a powerful legal supercomputer and a team of six human psychopaths, all completely devoid of shame for finding the best justification possible for their client. And boy, was it a clever one. 
 
 The judges, two humans, a computer, and one hothen, gave their first prompt. The apologant could only speak in response to the prompts of the judges, who themselves represented life in this half of the galaxy. 
 
 “ What justification does your client have for his actions against life over 8000 years ago? ” 
 Their client, by genetically pruning the human race at the end of its childhood, had prepared the future of the human species to venture forth wiser, stronger, and more capable of defending itself, they asserted. Such an event was a critical experience to have for a species which was to survive in the galactic ecosystem later on. They argued that their client ’ s war had changed the species, not only in genetic composition, but also in a way only the magnitude and precision of such a war could have had. It had changed the outcome of the next several centuries, and taught the species several valuable lessons, both about its own nature and self defense. For the small price of a few million lives in the past, he had prepared the human species to save trillions of lives in the present day. 
 The hothen, suspended by his somewhat loud bags of methane, eyed Hitler suspiciously. The human judges listened intently. The computer had no physical form in the room, but we all knew it was listening. Hitler sat completely motionless, with a bitter frown frozen into his face. A lower court had temporarily paralyzed him using a chemical concoction after his second suicide attempt while on the stand, and this decision had been preserved all the way up the court ladder. His lawyers kept his mouth tightly shut anyway, so they had no objections. 
 
 I looked around at the audience, which was sectioned off by the time era they came from. All the way at the end I could see a few humans who held pamphlets for those from negative years. Their guides, I imagined, explained to them that the year system had been changed to center around their year 3500 or so, which was when humans first encountered another sentient species. It had taken us nearly 1500 years of space travel to find someone. My own guide had 9B0 - > 11E1 shaped on it, which introduced me to the current year from my own, 2097 years ago. 
 
 Paralyzed Hitler wasn ’ t a very theatrical guy, which was kind of disappointing. The first trials, where he had ranted and attempted suicide must have been a lot more fun to watch. The story of his arrest was that the moment he saw them beam in, he had indeed tried to shoot himself. 
 By the end of the day, a judgement was ready. It was a fast case. 
 
 “ The judges have determined that the apologant ’ s actions are only marginally excusable, ” they concluded. Though he remained motionless, his entire body was sweating. His upper lip had beaded sweat where his mustache once was. ( His lawyers had insisted he shave it. ) “ And as retribution in the defense of all living beings in the Epterdisc of the galaxy, all living beings will have root access to the mind of Adolf Hitler. The apologant will endure this until the last day of his life, at which time he will be disassembled by nanobots. ” 
 
 The humans at the end, the ones from the negative years, stood up and cheered. I guess they still had memories of this guy in that time? Or maybe they were just happy with the retribution. Disassembly by nanobots was the most painful thing a human could experience, since the nervous system was always the very last thing to be torn apart. Trillions of nanobots shredding cells, eventually setting fire to every nerve simultaneously. But I think the pain was incidental to the retribution. Really, it was the twitch plays Hitler thing that was the main course. It wasn ’ t just a physical control. No, they had said ‘ root access to the *mind* ’. Trillions of people would wrestle for control of his very thoughts with him, in addition to having no agency over his person. He ’ d certainly never have a private thought again. Sure, there would be blocks in place to prevent death, but the public could be very creative... 

