Germany to prosecute 93-year-old ex-Auschwitz death camp guard in April
A 93-year-old former SS guard at the infamous Auschwitz death camp, involved in the deaths of 1,075 prisoners, will go on trial in Germany in April as the country races to prosecute aging Nazi criminals.
The Hanau court made the announcement on Friday, without revealing the name of the accused, AP reported.
It was only said that the perpetrator, who is charged with being an accessory to murder, used to work at the Auschwitz camp in occupied Poland between November 1, 1942 and June 25, 1943.
According to a statement released by the court, at least three trains carrying deportees from Berlin, Drancy in France and Westerbork in the Netherlands arrived at the camp on his watch.
"Of the deportees, at least 1,075 people were cruelly and maliciously killed in the gas chambers after their arrival in Auschwitz," the statement said.
Three relatives of those, who lost their lives in Auschwitz have been accepted as co-plaintiffs in the case, the court added.
Despite being 93, the accused was found fit to stand trial by the medics, but the hearing will still be shortened to four hours a day.
It’s going to be third trial of a member of former SS personnel from Auschwitz which has taken place since the start of the year.
A 94-year-old ex-guard and 95-year-old former medic are to stand before the court in Germany in February.
Both men are being charged with complicity in the killings of thousands of people at the camp.
READ MORE: 'I don’t feel guilty': Nazi Holocaust mastermind Eichmann's last clemency letter released
Some 1.1 million people, most of them being Jews from Europe, were executed in 1940 – 1945 in Auschwitz-Birkenau before it was liberated by the advancing Soviet forces.
