'3300 People Murder Aided'... 98-Year-Old Nazi Concentration Camp Guard Indicted

Served in Nazi SS at Forced Labor Camp
German Prosecutors: "Accessory Charges Possible Even Without Direct Murder"

A 98-year-old man who worked as a guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Nazi Germany has been indicted. He is accused of aiding and abetting the murder of 3,300 inmates.

Local media including Spiegel reported this on the 1st (local time), citing an announcement from the Gießen prosecutor's office in Germany.

According to the prosecution, the man, who resides in Main-Kinzig County near Frankfurt am Main, was a member of the Nazi SS guard unit and worked at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Brandenburg, on the outskirts of Berlin, from 1943 to 1945.

The prosecution stated, "He is suspected of supporting the brutal and cunning killing of 3,300 inmates between July 1943 and February 1945." The man's name has not been disclosed.

However, it has not yet been decided whether the case will be brought to trial. This is because the man was between 18 and 21 years old at the time, so juvenile criminal law applies.

The prosecution said, "In October last year, a psychiatric specialist's examination confirmed that the man is at least partially fit to stand trial."

The main gate of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp
[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

More than 200,000 people were held at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in northern Berlin, most of whom were opponents of the Nazi regime, Jews, and homosexuals. After World War II, tens of thousands, including prisoners of war from the occupying countries of Germany, were brought to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

More than half of the inmates were killed as part of a systematic extermination process, and forced labor and human experiments on inmates were conducted. Scholars estimate the number of deaths to be up to 100,000, but generally consider 40,000 to 50,000 to be more accurate.

In recent years, German prosecutors have repeatedly indicted people who assisted at Nazi camps. This follows a precedent allowing prosecution as accomplices to murder even without direct evidence of involvement in specific killings. Under German law, murder and aiding and abetting murder are not subject to statutes of limitations.

In April, Josef Sch?tz, known as the "oldest Nazi war criminal," died at the age of 102. Sch?tz also worked as a guard at Sachsenhausen and was found to have been directly or indirectly involved in the massacre of 3,518 Jews and others, receiving a five-year prison sentence in the first trial.

However, Sch?tz consistently claimed innocence in court, stating, "I did nothing related to the Nazis and worked on a farm," and despite being sentenced to prison, he was not incarcerated due to his advanced age and health reasons. He immediately appealed the guilty verdict.

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