Story at a glance
- The trial of a 100-year-old former Nazi SS guard began Thursday near Berlin.
- A man identified as Josef S. allegedly contributed to the deaths of 3,518 people at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1942 and 1945 by serving as a watchtower guard.
- The conviction of former concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk in 2011 set a legal precedent to try individuals for their roles as part of the larger Nazi apparatus.
The trial of a 100-year-old former Nazi SS guard, who’s accused of aiding in the deaths of more than 3,000 people during World War II, began Thursday near Berlin.
A man identified as Josef S. allegedly contributed to the deaths of 3,518 people at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1942 and 1945 by serving as a watchtower guard, prosecutors argue, according to Reuters.
The prosecution has accused Josef S. of “contributing to cruel and insidious murders” by aiding in “creating and maintaining life-threatening conditions in the camp.”
Doctors deemed Josef S., whose full name was withheld due to German rules, fit to stand trial. But the trial times will be limited to two and a half hours per session.
Sachsenhausen housed primarily political prisoners, prisoners of war and Jews. The camp also employed the use of Zyklon-B, the poisonous gas used in the murder of Jews across Europe. The camp opened in 1936 and served as a training ground for guards often sent to death camps, including Treblinka and Auschwitz.
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The conviction of former concentration camp guard John Demjanjuk in 2011 set a legal precedent to try individuals for their roles as part of the larger Nazi apparatus. Prior to Demjanjuk’s case, prosecutors focused primarily on those responsible for ordering killings.
Last week, 96-year-old Irmgard Furchner, who is accused of aiding and abetting the murder of 11,412 people while serving as a typist at the Stutthof concentration camp between 1943 and 1945, was apprehended after attempting to evade her trial.
Furchner allegedly transcribed execution orders at the behest of the camp commandant, Paul-Werner Hoppe, who was convicted as an accessory to murder in 1955.
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