Some of the reaction to Roman Polanski's detention in Switzerland makes reference to the fact of his being a Holocaust survivor. There's one way in which this might be thought relevant to the issue but isn't. No one could seriously uphold a principle according to which laws against serious assault should not apply, or should apply more leniently, to the survivors of traumatic historical events.
There is, however, a different connection that can be drawn between this aspect of Polanksi's past and the current controversy about his arrest, and so far as I know it's one that hasn't been widely noted if it's been noted at all. As a genocide, the Holocaust was a colossal, a continent-wide, crime against humanity, as well as being composed of countless localized crimes against humanity. There is no statute of limitations for crimes against humanity. (See this Convention.) That is because of their gravity. For the same reason, in most national jurisdictions the provision for statutory limitation does not normally cover grave crimes against the person. Reference to Polanski's being a Holocaust survivor should therefore remind us that, whatever other arguments there may be against extraditing him, the fact that his offence was committed long ago isn't one of them - unless raping a child is thought not to be a serious offence.
Postscript: A normblog reader points out that in my post about this yesterday, I was wrong to imply that Woody Allen had been married to Mia Farrow. I make the necessary correction therefore. The moral point of that post stands nonetheless.