Auschwitz guard charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder
Auschwitz guard charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder
A 93-year-old man has been charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder for serving as a guard at Auschwitz, reports the British daily Independent.
Oskar Groening has openly talked about his two-and-a-half years as a guard at the Nazi death camp but says that while he witnessed atrocities, he didn’t commit any himself. But Hanover prosecutors claimed today he was a cog in the machine, noting he helped to collect money stolen from murdered inmates.
In his job dealing with the belongings stolen from camp victims, prosecutors said among other things he was charged with helping collect and tally money that was found.
"He helped the Nazi regime benefit economically, and supported the systematic killings," state prosecutors in the city of Hanover said in a statement.
In 2005, Groening told Der Spiegel magazine he recalled one incident on "ramp duty" when he heard a baby crying. "I saw another SS soldier grab the baby by the legs..." he said. "He smashed the baby's head against the iron side of a truck until it was silent."
Groening, who lives in the Hanover area, is one of some 30 former Auschwitz guards who federal investigators recommended last year that state prosecutors pursue charges against under a new precedent in German law.
Groening is the fourth case investigated by Hanover — two have been shelved because the suspects have been deemed unfit for trial, and one was closed when the suspect died.
Holtermann said, however, his client is in good health.
Thomas Walther, who represents 20 Auschwitz victims and their families as co-plaintiffs in the case against Groening as allowed under German law, said it's their last chance "to participate in bringing justice to one of the SS men who had a part in the murder of their closest relatives."
"Many of the co-plaintiffs are among the last survivors of Auschwitz," he told The Associated Press.