National Socialism - Public prosecutor wants trial against former concentration camp guard
The Public Prosecutor's Office Gießen contradicts the Landgericht Hanau's opinion that a former guard of the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp is not at least partially capable of conducting a trial. The Prosecutor's Office filed a complaint against the court's decision. The responsible chamber had rejected the initiation of the main proceedings against the man on the grounds that the 99-year-old man was permanently incapable of conducting a trial due to health reasons.
The Public Prosecutor's Office in Gießen contradicted the expert opinion given on Thursday. They believe that the man is at least partially capable of conducting a trial. Now, the Higher Regional Court Frankfurt must decide.
The Public Prosecutor's Office in Gießen indicted the man last year, who is said to have served as a guard in the KZ Sachsenhausen as a teenager. Since the place of jurisdiction principle applies in juvenile law, the Youth Chamber of the Landgericht Hanau had to decide on the admissibility of the indictment.
The man from the Main-Kinzig-District was charged with having provided assistance in more than 3300 cases of murder from July 1943 to February 1945. As a member of the SS-Wachmannschaften, the German national is said to have "supported the cruel and treacherous murder of thousands of prisoners."
In the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, approximately 204,000 people were interned by the Nazis between 1936 and 1945, about 10,000 of whom died from hunger, diseases, forced labor, and mistreatment or were victims of SS extermination actions. Thousands more prisoners died on death marches from the evacuation of the camp at the end of April 1945.
Approximately 35 kilometers north of Berlin, about 204,000 people were interned in the KZ Sachsenhausen between 1936 and 1945 by the Nazis. Ten thousand of them died from hunger, diseases, forced labor, and mistreatment or were victims of SS extermination actions. Thousands more prisoners died on death marches from the evacuation of the camp at the end of April 1945.
The dispute over the man's trial capacity originates from his role as a guard in the notorious Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp during National Socialism. Despite being 99 years old, the Public Prosecutor's Office in Hesse argues that processes against him should continue in the Regional Court of Hanau.
The Hesse Public Prosecutor's Office disagrees with the court's decision that the Sachsenhausen concentration camp guard is permanently incapacitated. They are appealing this decision to the Higher Regional Court in Frankfurt.
The Public Prosecutor's Office in Gießen initiated processes against this former guard due to his involvement in at least 3300 cases of murder in the Sachsenhausen KZ, between July 1943 and February 1945. His alleged crimes included supporting the brutal and deceitful murder of thousands of prisoners as a member of the SS-Wachmannschaften.
The man from the Main-Kinzig-District is facing charges for his actions in the dark chapter of German history, a period marked by the horrors of concentration camps such as Sachsenhausen.
Despite the camp's closure at the end of April 1945, the atrocities committed within its walls led to the tragic deaths of over 10,000 innocent victims, a grim reminder of the devastating consequences of National Socialism.
