95-Year-Old 'Nazi Camp Commander's Secretary' Charged with Aiding Murder

Stutthof Concentration Camp. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

[Asia Economy Reporter Hana Na] A 95-year-old woman who worked as a commander's secretary at a Nazi forced labor camp during World War II has been indicted by prosecutors on charges of aiding and abetting over 10,000 murders. While several guards at various forced labor camps in Germany have been charged with aiding and abetting massacres, this is the first time a secretary has been indicted.

According to foreign media including The New York Times (NYT) on the 5th (local time), Irmgard F. (95) worked as the commander's secretary at the Stutthof camp near Gdansk, Poland, from June 1943 to April 1945.

The Stutthof camp, established outside the German border in 1939 as the first forced labor camp, is known to have been the site where more than 60,000 Jews, Polish partisans, and Soviet prisoners of war were massacred.

According to German prosecutors, after conducting investigations over five years starting in 2016 targeting survivors in the United States and Israel, Irmgard systematically supported the killings at the forced labor camp while serving as the camp commander's secretary and stenographer.

The prosecutors explained the reason for the indictment as "regarding the specific responsibility Irmgard had in the routine operation of the forced labor camp."

However, considering that Irmgard was a minor at the time, prosecutors plan to hold the trial at the local juvenile court with jurisdiction over the case.

In a 2019 interview with Germany's NDR, Irmgard defended herself by saying, "It is true that I worked at a Nazi camp over 70 years ago, but I had no idea that mass killings were taking place. I only learned the full truth after the war ended."

In response, British historian Rachel Century, who wrote a book about female administrators during the Nazi era, told the NYT, "Most of these women were aware of the persecution of Jews, and some even knew that they were being murdered," adding, "Some secretaries had greater access to information compared to others due to their roles."

Earlier, in July last year, the Hamburg court in Germany convicted Bruno D. (93, male), a Nazi SS guard who served at the Stutthof camp, and sentenced him to two years probation. He was also 17 years old at the time and only stood guard, but prosecutors charged him with aiding and abetting murder, bringing him to historical judgment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.