100-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard to stand trial News
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100-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard to stand trial

An unnamed 100-year-old former guard at Sachsenhausen Nazi concentration camp during World War II has been indicted on 3,518 counts of accessory to murder. The Neuruppin state court said Monday said that the defendant will stand trial in October.

The defendant is alleged to have served at the camp on the outskirts of Berlin between 1942 and 1945 as an enlisted member of the Nazi SS paramilitary organisation. It is not the first time that an ex-SS member has been indicted in recent years. A landmark 2011 ruling set the precedent that former guards may still be charged as per se accessories to murder, without evidence of specific crimes to specific victims, for service at Nazi concentration camps and for simply assisting the camps to operate. This case relies on that precedent.

The case is one of many brought by the special federal prosecutor’s office in Ludwigsburg, which is tasked with investigating past Nazi war crimes. Last year, a 93-year-old former guard was found guilty of complicity in over 5,000 murders. In March, 96-year-old man was indicted for similar crimes but was deemed unfit to stand trial. In February, A 95-year-old former camp secretary was charged with 10,000 counts of accessory to murder will stand trial in September.

Prosecutors confirmed Monday that the centenarian passed a medical assessment that deemed him fit to stand trial for two-and-a-half hours per day. Many see these trials as important symbols of the lasting damage caused by the Holocaust, the necessary justice for the survivors and for continued awareness of new evidence of the atrocities that were committed.

Thomas Walther, a lawyer representing co-plaintiffs in Nazi proceedings for years and now involved in the Neuruppin trial, stated: “Sachsenhausen was the setting for the Nazi leadership at the gates of Berlin for their delusion of rule over life and death. Many co-plaintiffs are of the same age as the accused and hope for justice.”

Sachsenhausen saw 200,000 people imprisoned, with at least 30,000 deaths. This case is expected to be one of the last trials for crimes committed during the Nazi era.