Holocaust Horrors: 98-Year-Old Man Charged With Assisting in Thousands of Deaths at Nazi Camp
In a statement, the public prosecutor in the western city of Giessen, near Frankfurt, revealed that the man had been employed at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp from 1943 to 1945.
Mumbai, September 2: German authorities announced on Friday that they have charged a 98-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard on charges of aiding and abetting in the murder of over 3,300 people during the Holocaust. However, the man's identity was not revealed in compliance with German privacy regulations.
In a statement, the public prosecutor in the western city of Giessen, near Frankfurt, revealed that the man had been employed at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp from 1943 to 1945. He is accused of having “supported the cruel and malicious killing of thousands of prisoners as a member of the SS guard detail,” prosecutors added. Nazi Protesters With Flags, Ron DeSantis 2024 Signs Outside Disney World in Florida's Orlando (See Photo and Video).
Reports said that he is facing charges for over 3,300 counts of being an accessory to murder spanning from July 1943 to February 1945. The indictment has been submitted to the state court in Hanau, which will determine whether to proceed with a trial. If a trial is pursued, it will be conducted under juvenile law, considering his age at the time of the alleged offences.
According to prosecutors, a psychiatric expert's report from last October concluded that the man can stand trial, at least to some extent. In recent years, German prosecutors have pursued numerous cases based on a precedent that permits individuals who aided in the functioning of a Nazi camp to be charged as accessories to the murders that occurred there, even without direct evidence of their involvement in a particular killing. 102-year-old Convicted Nazi Camp Guard Dies Awaiting Appeal.
It must be noted that Sachsenhausen, situated just north of Berlin, housed over 200,000 people between 1936 and 1945. Unfortunately, tens of thousands perished due to various factors such as starvation, disease, forced labour, and other mistreatments. Tragically, many also fell victim to medical experiments and the systematic extermination operations the SS carried out, including shootings, hangings, and gas chamber executions.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 02, 2023 02:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).