98-year-old German man charged with accessory to murder at Nazi concentration camp
Prosecutors are accusing the man of having “supported the cruel and malicious killing of thousands of prisoners as a member of the SS guard detail” at Sachsenhausen concentration camp
A 98-year-old German man accused of working as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp is being charged with 3,300 counts of accessory to murder.
Local prosecutors in the town of Giessen, north of Frankfurt, are accusing the man of having “supported the cruel and malicious killing of thousands of prisoners as a member of the SS guard detail” at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin between July 1943 and February 1945, according to the Associated Press. Prosecutors did not release the suspect’s name.
A psychiatric report conducted on the suspect in October 2022 determined that he is at least partially fit to stand trial, the AP reported.
Despite his advanced age, because he was younger than 21 at the time of the crimes, the suspect is being charged under juvenile criminal law at Hanau Regional Court, which holds jurisdiction over his place of residence.
Suspects accused as adults for Nazi crimes are typically tried in courts with jurisdiction over the location of the crime, German press reported.
As prosecutors and investigators seek to hold the last living Nazis accountable for their crimes, trials of suspects nearing the end of their lives have become more common.
Joseph Schütz, another guard at Sachsenhausen, was the oldest Nazi camp guard ever put on trial for his crimes, and was convicted last year at age 101 of being complicit in the mass murder of 3,518 prisoners.
Schütz was tried as an adult, and his case was held at a court in Brandenburg, the German state where Sachsenhausen was located. He was sentenced to five years in prison and died in April at 102 while waiting for an appeal. In 2021, Irmgard Furchner, then 95, was put to trial for complicity in the murder of 10,000 people due to her work as a secretary at the Stutthof concentration camp.
The precedent in German law that guards at Nazi death camps could be tried for their crimes, even without evidence of a specific killing, was set in the 2011 conviction of former concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk. Charges of murder and accessory to murder are not subject to a statute of limitations under German law.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
