Between June 1943 and April 1945, Irmgard F, who is now 97, is said to have worked as a civilian employee in the concentration camp headquarters. In doing so, she helped those responsible there in the systematic killing of detainees. The Itzehoe District Court has now sentenced the former secretary to two years’ imprisonment on probation for being an accessory to murder in more than 10,500 cases.
The historical expert commissioned by the court had previously concluded that the defendant should have known about the murders of detainees. The headquarters was the hub for all orders in the camp. Irmgard F. also worked there voluntarily. She was able to cancel at any time.
Irmgard F. did not want to face the process at first
Because the accused was only 18 to 19 years old at the time of the crime, the trial took place before the youth chamber of the court. The public prosecutor had asked for a youth sentence of two years imprisonment on probation. Most of the 15 co-plaintiffs agreed to the penalty claim. However, one of them spoke out against a suspended sentence.
The process has dragged on since September 2021. During this time, the court heard eight of the 31 joint plaintiffs, mostly via video transmissions to the USA, Israel or Poland. The accused did not want to face the proceedings at first. On the first day of the trial, she disappeared from her retirement home in Quickborn early in the morning and was arrested by the police in Hamburg hours later. Only at the very end of the process did Irmgard F. comment on the allegations: “I’m sorry about everything that happened,” she said in her last word. “I regret that I was in Stutthof at the time. That’s all I can say.”
Attorney Hans-Jürgen Förster, who represented four Stutthof survivors, reacted with satisfaction to the conviction of the accused: “State criminal law cannot do more in terms of content,” he explained to the German press agency.
It could have been the last trial to prosecute Nazi crimes in Germany. Five further investigations are still pending at the public prosecutor’s office. However, it is still unclear whether they will go to court.