justice
Charges brought against suspected former concentration camp guard
The gate to the Sachsenhausen Memorial on the site of the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp. photo
© Fabian Sommer/dpa
Aid to murder in more than 3,300 cases: the Gießen public prosecutor has brought charges against a 98-year-old. As an adolescent, he is said to have been a security guard in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
The juvenile chamber of the Hanau Regional Court is now deciding whether to admit the indictment, since the man was an adolescent at the time of the crime and the place of residence principle applies in juvenile criminal law, the public prosecutor explained. A psychiatric expert report, which was obtained in October last year, assumes that the man’s ability to negotiate is at least limited.
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
From 1936 onwards around 204,000 people were interned by the Nazis in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp around 35 kilometers north of Berlin. Tens of thousands perished from starvation, disease, forced labor and abuse, or became victims of SS extermination operations. Thousands more prisoners died on death marches after the camp was evacuated at the end of April 1945.
The district court in Hanau confirmed receipt of the charges on Friday afternoon. The defense now has a month to examine the writing, a spokesman said. Only then will the regional court decide on the admission of the indictment.