100 year old man charged as Nazi concentration camp guard

[Thomas Veil]

And the charge includes over 3,500 counts of being accessory to murder.

Man, 100, charged in Germany over 3,518 Nazi concentration camp murders

Man is alleged to have been Nazi SS guard at Sachsenhausen camp between 1942 and 1945

www.theguardian.com

It comes after prosecutors in the northern town of Itzehoe announced accessory to murder charges last week against a 95-year-old woman who worked during the war as the secretary of the SS commandant of the Stutthof concentration camp. That case and the charges against the 100-year-old man both rely on recent legal precedent in Germany establishing that anyone who helped a Nazi camp function can be prosecuted for accessory to the murders committed there.

I’m not sure what to make of this. Sure, it appeals to the part of us all that wants justice. And, the Nazis were history’s ultimate villains.

But 100? We went through that with John Demjanjuk some years ago, and the case dragged on all the way to his death.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And the charge includes over 3,500 counts of being accessory to murder.

Man, 100, charged in Germany over 3,518 Nazi concentration camp murders

Man is alleged to have been Nazi SS guard at Sachsenhausen camp between 1942 and 1945

www.theguardian.com

I’m not sure what to make of this. Sure, it appeals to the part of us all that wants justice. And, the Nazis were history’s ultimate villains.

But 100? We went through that with John Demjanjuk some years ago, and the case dragged on all the way to his death.

Rather than Nazis per se, - most of whom are dead, or close to death - this may serve to send a message to those currently committing war crimes (or those who have relatively recently done so) that neither age nor distance (in time or in place) will serve to protect them once the wheels of justice are put in motion.

 

[fooferdoggie]

Just read of a 95 year old woman who was a secretary getting charged too.

Woman, 95, Indicted on 10,000 Counts of Accessory to Murder in Nazi Camp (Published 2021)

German prosecutors indicted the woman, who once worked as a secretary to the commander of the Stutthof concentration camp, after a five-year investigation.

www.nytimes.com

German prosecutors indicted the woman, who once worked as a secretary to the commander of the Stutthof concentration camp, after a five-year investigation.

 

[mac_in_tosh]

Did the Nazis or their enablers have sympathy for victims who were over 90 years old?

 

[Thomas Veil]

We're only just learning about this guy. But in the case of Demjanjuk--which we got to see up close here in Ohio since he lived here and it was in the news ever day--people were conflicted. He claimed it was mistaken identity, the guard photo they used to identify him was blurry and didn't look much like him, and he'd been an auto worker living here quietly for a long time. Like this guy, Demjanjuk was said to be a guard, not anyone who actually put anyone to death. And by the time they came after him he was in a wheelchair and didn't look all that healthy. He ended up being extradited to Israel and had legal bills neither he nor his family could afford to pay. In a way you kind of had to feel sorry for a guy that old and feeble.

Did the Nazis or their enablers have sympathy for victims who were over 90 years old?

On the other hand, the answer to your question is obviously no.

 

[thekev]

Did the Nazis or their enablers have sympathy for victims who were over 90 years old?

It shouldn't matter. I don't want to adopt the social standards of the Nazis, based on someone being complicit in their crimes.

Also.. I'm wondering what the trial will look like with this guy at 100..

 

[Chew Toy McCoy]

Honestly I think this serves no meaningful purpose, but given the fact that thousands of Nazi criminals got to just return to normal life as if nothing happened, if another individual gets to be punished for the team so be it. It's not like he's going to be thrown into gen pop and shived while playing basketball.

 

[Thomas Veil]

This isn’t the same person I originally mentioned, but a 96 year old man is off the hook because he’s unfit to stand trial.

This part of the story is positively chilling:

The alleged victims included at least 100 Polish prisoners killed with the use of poison gas Zyklon B, 77 Soviet war prisoners killed in the summer of 1944, more than 140 mainly Jewish women and children killed by "an injection of petrol and phenol into their hearts," and several hundred Jewish prisoners executed because they were deemed "unfit for work."

96-year-old accused of being Nazi camp guard is deemed 'unfit' for trial

A 96-year-old man accused of being an SS guard at the Stutthof camp in Nazi-occupied Poland has been deemed "unfit to stand trial."

www.cnn.com

 

[thekev]

This isn’t the same person I originally mentioned, but a 96 year old man is off the hook because he’s unfit to stand trial.

He probably can't live independently or go wherever he wants anyway at this point. It's hard to say that much would come out of it, and they aren't going to execute him in a similar manner to those mentioned in your quote, because again, no country wants to borrow their social standards and practices from Nazi Germany.

Rehbogen, who appeared in court in a wheelchair, denied knowing the extent of the atrocities committed there in a statement read at court by his attorney. The trial was suspended after Rehbogen was hospitalized with health problems, reported AFP.