Federal Court of Justice hearing former concentration camp secretary Irmgard F.
The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) is now grappling with a fundamental question - namely, whether work as a secretary in a concentration camp that was not a pure extermination camp can be sentenced as an accomplice to murder. F. worked as a shorthand typist for the commander in the Stutthof concentration camp from 1943 to 1945, at the time being between 18 and 19 years old. Therefore, the proceedings against her in Itzehoe took place before a juvenile chamber.
In the Stutthof camp near Danzig, the SS held more than a hundred thousand people in inhumane conditions during the Second World War, including many Jews. Around 65,000 died, according to historians, but the exact number cannot be determined.
Stutthof was notorious as a camp for providing grossly inadequate supplies to prisoners, deliberately created by those in charge for the purpose of killing them. Most people died of starvation, thirst, epidemics, and heavy labor. However, there were also gas chambers and a neck shooting facility where sick and incapacitated prisoners were systematically and deliberately killed.
The Regional Court Itzehoe was convinced that F., by carrying out clerical work in the commander's office, willingly supported the main perpetrators in cruelly killing prisoners through gassings, creating inhospitable conditions in the camp, transporting them to the extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, and sending them on so-called death marches. Her work was necessary for the organization of the camp and the systematic killing actions.
After the regional court's verdict, F. appealed to the BGH for a higher court review. The Federal Prosecutor General requested a retrial. For appeals against verdicts of the Itzehoe Regional Court, the fifth criminal senate of the BGH in Leipzig is responsible, so the trial began there, not at the main seat in Karlsruhe. A verdict is not expected on Wednesday. It is expected to be announced on August 6 or 20.
The appeal by F. regarding her conviction by the Itzehoe Regional Court for aiding in the murder of concentration camp prisoners was heard by the fifth criminal senate of the [The Court of Justice] in Leipzig. Despite the controversy surrounding her role as a shorthand typist for the commander in Stutthof, a concentration camp known for its inhumane conditions and deliberate killing methods, the final verdict from [The Court of Justice] is yet to be announced.
