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Former Nazi guard, 101, jailed for aiding murder of Jews

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It is very clear that what the world promised after World War II, sends a message that if you commit such crimes, even decades later, you might be brought to justice, the Nazi’s are one of, if not the most evil organization the world has ever seen. The man, who was identified by local media as Josef S., had denied working as an SS guard at the Nazis’ Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners. As reported by the AP:

The court said there is proof that the man worked at the camp on the outskirts of Berlin between1942 and 1945 as an enlisted member of the Nazi Party’s paramilitary wing

BERLIN (AP) — A 101-year-old man was convicted in Germany of 3,518 counts of accessory to murder on Tuesday for serving at the Nazis‘ Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II.

The accused Josef S. covers his face as he sits at the court room in Brandenburg, Germany, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. A 101-year-old man has been convicted of 3,518 counts of accessory to murder for serving at the Nazis’ Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II. The Neuruppin Regional Court sentenced him to five years in prison on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Michele Tantussi)

The Neuruppin Regional Court sentenced him to five years in prison.

The man, who was identified by local media as Josef S., had denied working as an SS guard at the camp and aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners.

In the trial, which opened in October, the man said that he had worked as a farm laborer near Pasewalk in northeastern Germany during the period in question.

However, the court considered it proven that he worked at the camp on the outskirts of Berlin between 1942 and 1945 as an enlisted member of the Nazi Party’s paramilitary wing, the German news agency dpa reported.

“The court has come to the conclusion that, contrary to what you claim, you worked in the concentration camp as a guard for about three years,” presiding Judge Udo Lechtermann said, according to dpa, adding that in doing so, the defendant had assisted in the terror and murder machinery of the Nazis.

“You willingly supported this mass extermination with your activity,” Lechtermann said.

The accused Josef S. covers his face as he sits at the court room in Brandenburg, Germany, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. A 101-year-old man has been convicted of 3,518 counts of accessory to murder for serving at the Nazis’ Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II. The Neuruppin Regional Court sentenced him to five years in prison on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Michele Tantussi)

Prosecutors had based their case on documents relating to an SS guard with the man’s name, date, and place of birth, as well as other documents.

The five-year prison sentence was in line with the prosecution’s demand. However, the defendant can appeal the court’s ruling.

For organizational reasons, the trial was held in a gymnasium in Brandenburg/Havel, the 101-year-old’s place of residence. The man was only fit to stand trial to a limited extent and was only able to participate in the trial for about two and a half hours each day. The trial was interrupted several times for health reasons and hospital stays.

Efraim Zuroff, the head Nazi hunter at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s office in Jerusalem, told The Associated Press that the sentence “sends a message that if you commit such crimes, even decades later, you might be brought to justice.”

FILE – This undated file photo shows a roll call, in the early morning or late evening hours, on the roll call square in front of the camp gate of the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen in Oranienburg on the outskirts of Berlin, Germany. In the foreground on the tower a machine gun pointed at the prisoners. A 101-year-old man has been convicted in Germany of 3,518 counts of accessory to murder for serving at the Nazis’ Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II. The Neuruppin Regional Court sentenced him to five years in prison on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. (AP Photo, file)

“And it’s a very important thing because it gives closure to the relatives of the victims,” Zuroff added. “The fact that these people all of a sudden feel that their loss is being addressed and the suffering of their family who they lost in the camps is being addressed … is a very important thing.”

Sachsenhausen was established in 1936 just north of Berlin as the first new camp after Adolf Hitler gave the SS full control of the Nazi concentration camp system. It was intended to be a model facility and training camp for the labyrinthine network that the Nazis built across Germany, Austria, and occupied territories.

The accused Josef S. covers his face as he sits at the court room in Brandenburg, Germany, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. A 101-year-old man has been convicted of 3,518 counts of accessory to murder for serving at the Nazis’ Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II. The Neuruppin Regional Court sentenced him to five years in prison on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Michele Tantussi)

More than 200,000 people were held there between 1936 and 1945. Tens of thousands of inmates died of starvation, disease, forced labor and other causes, as well as through medical experiments and systematic SS extermination operations including shootings, hangings, and gassing.

Exact numbers on those killed vary, with upper estimates of some 100,000, though scholars suggest figures of 40,000 to 50,000 are likely more accurate.

In its early years, most prisoners were either political prisoners or criminal prisoners, but they also included some Jehovah’s Witnesses and homosexuals. The first large group of Jewish prisoners was brought there in 1938 after the so-called Night of Broken Glass, or Kristallnacht, an antisemitic pogrom.

The accused Josef S. covers his face as he sits at the court room in Brandenburg, Germany, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. A 101-year-old man has been convicted of 3,518 counts of accessory to murder for serving at the Nazis’ Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II. The Neuruppin Regional Court sentenced him to five years in prison on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Michele Tantussi)

During the war, Sachsenhausen was expanded to include Soviet prisoners of war — who were shot by the thousands — as well as others.

As in other camps, Jewish prisoners were singled out at Sachsenhausen for particularly harsh treatment, and most who remained alive by 1942 were sent to the Auschwitz death camp.

Sachsenhausen was liberated in April 1945 by the Soviets, who turned it into a brutal camp of their own.

The accused Josef S. covers his face as he sits at the court room in Brandenburg, Germany, Tuesday, June 28, 2022. A 101-year-old man has been convicted of 3,518 counts of accessory to murder for serving at the Nazis’ Sachsenhausen concentration camp during World War II. The Neuruppin Regional Court sentenced him to five years in prison on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Michele Tantussi)

Tuesday’s verdict relies 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.

In a different case, a 96-year-old woman went on trial in late September in the northern German town of Itzehoe. The woman, who allegedly worked during the war as the secretary for the SS commandant of the Stutthof concentration camp, has been charged with more than 11,000 counts of accessory to murder.

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER

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