Nazi crimes
The trial against the former secretary in the Stutthof concentration camp continues
The 96-year-old defendant Irmgard F. is sitting in an ambulance chair in the Itzehoe courtroom. Photo: Christian Charisius / dpa / Pool / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
A former secretary in the Stutthof concentration camp is accused of assisting the murder of over 11,000 people. After trying to escape, the 96-year-old now has to listen to the charges.
In the trial against a former concentration camp secretary before the Itzehoe regional court, the defendant was silent on the allegations on Tuesday.
His client will not comment at the moment and will not answer any questions, said her defense lawyer Wolf Molkentin. 96-year-old Irmgard F. has been charged with complicity in murder in over 11,000 cases.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, she had worked in the headquarters of the German concentration camp Stutthof near Danzig from June 1943 to April 1945. As a typist and typist, she helped those in charge of the camp with the systematic killing of prisoners, the prosecutor said. As a civilian employee in the service of the SS-Totenkopfverband, she recorded, sorted or drafted all letters from the camp commandant Paul Werner Hoppe at the time. As a result, she was aware of all the events in the camp and of the methods of killing.
The 96-year-old was pushed into the courtroom at a logistics company in a medical wheelchair. When the trial actually began on September 30, the defendant did not appear. According to the court, she was in hiding. Hours later, the woman was arrested by the police in Hamburg. The court issued an arrest warrant. After five days, the 96-year-old was released from custody under precautionary measures. On Tuesday, she wore an electronic bracelet on her left wrist.
According to the central office responsible for investigating Nazi crimes in Ludwigsburg, around 65,000 people died in the Stutthof concentration camp and its sub-camps as well as on the so-called death marches at the end of the war.