"Catch Them to the End" Germany Convicts 97-Year-Old Nazi Secretary

Convicted of Aiding Organized Murder of Survivors... 2-Year Suspended Sentence
"Regret What Happened Then... Regret Being in the Camp" Final Statement

Nazi war criminal Hildegard Fuhrichner (97) is on trial at the Itzehoe court in northern Germany. Photo by EPA·Yonhap News

What is more terrifying than Auschwitz is humanity forgetting it. This is the inscription at the site of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Germany has not forgotten its mistakes, and has convicted a 97-year-old woman who worked as a secretary to the Nazi SS commander at the Stutthof forced labor camp during World War II of aiding and abetting murder.

According to the DPA news agency on the 20th, the court in the district of Itzehoe in northern Germany sentenced Irmgard Furchner to two years of probation for helping the forced labor camp function. Furchner was tried on charges of assisting the camp officials in the systematic murder of detainees while working as a stenographer and typist in the camp commandant’s office from June 1943 to April 1945.

The verdict and sentence were handed down as requested by the prosecution. The defense lawyers argued that there was no clear evidence that Furchner was aware of the systematic killings at the camp, meaning there was no proof of intent necessary for criminal responsibility, and requested an acquittal. In her final statement, Furchner expressed regret for what happened and said she regretted being at Stutthof at that time.

The court stated, "Furchner knew that 10,505 prisoners were being brutally murdered in gas chambers and elsewhere while she worked as a typist in the commandant’s office of the camp," and that she deliberately supported the organized massacre through handling paperwork and other tasks.

Judge Dominik Groß pointed out that the office where Furchner worked was located where the newly arrived prisoners waited, and that she could not have failed to notice the smoke coming from the crematorium during her work.

Furchner was tried in a juvenile court because she was under 21 years old at the time of the alleged crimes.

In Germany, there is no statute of limitations for murder and aiding and abetting murder. Since 2011, when a German court convicted John Demjanjuk (then 91 years old), who worked at a forced labor camp, of aiding and abetting murder despite lack of direct evidence, guilty verdicts against related individuals have continued.

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