Alleged former concentration camp guard will not be tried
A former SS-guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp is accused of providing assistance in over 3300 murders. The 99-year-old defendant is not mentally competent to stand trial, therefore, the Hanau Regional Court decided not to bring the case to trial. The Youth Chamber of the Court had rejected the prosecution's application to admit the indictment on May 6 of this year (Az.: 2 Ks 501 Js 33.635/22).
Charge: Accessory to Murder in over 3300 cases
The man from the Main-Kinzig district is charged with providing assistance in the murder of over 3300 people between July 1943 and February 1945. As an SS-Wachmannschaft member, the German national is accused of supporting the gruesome and treacherous killing of thousands of prisoners. As a member of an SS-Wachbattalion, the man was reportedly involved in the guarding of prisoners housed there, as well as the transportation of arriving prisoners from the train station to the main camp, and the escorting of prisoner transports. During this period, at least 3318 prisoners died in the camp due to the deplorable living conditions and were deliberately murdered through shootings and the use of poison gas.
A psychiatric expert opinion obtained in October of the previous year indicated that the man was mentally incapable of standing trial. In early February of this year, another expert opinion concluded that his physical and mental condition had deteriorated and that there was no prospect of improvement. "The court followed the expert's testimony in full and therefore, for legal reasons, did not admit the indictment to the main trial," the statement reads.
Approximately 204,000 Sinti and Roma, Jewish people, political opponents of the Nazi regime, homosexuals, foreign forced laborers, and allied prisoners of war were interned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, about 35 kilometers north of Berlin, between 1936 and 1945. Tens of thousands died from hunger, diseases, forced labor, and mistreatment, or were victims of SS extermination actions. Thousands more died on death marches following the evacuation of the camp in late April 1945.
- The Holocaust under National Socialism saw the establishment of numerous concentration camps, including Sachsenhausen, where international communities like Jews, Roma, and political dissidents were subjected to inhumane treatment and genocide.
- Despite being a member of the Waffen SS, accused of aiding in the murder and manslaughter of over 3300 prisoners at Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II, the defendant was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial due to deteriorating physical and mental health.
- The brutalities of Sachsenhausen concentration camp echoed the larger horrors of the Holocaust, with murder and manslaughter perpetrated in the form of shootings and poison gas use, eventually resulting in the deaths of at least 3318 prisoners.
