Germany: Ex-Nazi camp guard dies, ending case against him
February 28, 2023
The 99-year-old was under investigation over suspected complicity in the murders that took place at the Ravensbrück Nazi concentration camp, where tens of thousands of women were killed.
Tens of thousands of women were murdered or died of disease and hunger at the Ravensbrück Nazi concentration camp, where the man allegedly worked as a guardImage: Monika Skolimowska/dpa/picture alliance
Advertisement
German prosecutors have closed a case against a 99-year-old man after the alleged former Nazi concentration camp guard died, authorities announced on Tuesday.
With the number of suspected Nazi war criminals dwindling due to old age, German authorities have been pushing to prosecute former concentration camp guards, secretaries and other workers.
Advertisement
What do we know about the case?
Prosecutors in the southern German town of Coburg announced the suspect's death, noting that he was suspected of being complicit in murders that took place during his time as a Nazi camp guard.
"Since the accused has died in the meantime, the case is now closed," prosecutors said in a brief statement.
The 99-year-old, who was not identified, was thought to have worked as a guard at the Ravensbrück concentration camp between 1943 and 1945, authorities said.
Prosecutors added that prior to the man's death, they were not able to determine an exact number of murder cases at the camp where the man could have been considered complicit.
Shoah survivor: 'The biggest fish were let go'
02:11
This browser does not support the video element.
"It was not yet possible to determine the exact number of cases," prosecutors said in the statement.
Investigations were already at an advanced stage and the suspect was deemed fit enough to stand trial, reported German newspaper the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Ravensbrück, located in northeastern Germany, was the largest Nazi concentration camp for women. It was later expanded to include a small section for men as well as a juvenile camp for young girls.
During 1939 and 1945, at least 120,000 women and children as well as 20,000 men were registered as prisoners. An additional 1,200 young girls were logged as prisoners at the separate juvenile camp.
Women from over 30 countries were imprisoned at the camp, including those who were Jewish, Roma and Sinti.
An estimated 92,000 people died at the camp, according to the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem. They either succumbed to disease and hunger, or were murdered in gas chambers or were shot and killed. Others were killed in pseudo-scientific medical experiments carried out by the Nazis.
Germany prosecuting aging Holocaust perpetrators
Germany has been working to prosecute perpetrators of the Holocaust as more suspected war criminals, and Holocaust survivors, die.
A landmark ruling in 2011 has allowed people to be prosecuted as an accessory to the murders in Nazi death camps, even if they cannot be shown to have directly killed anyone.
In December, a 97-year-old former Nazi camp secretary was found guilty of being complicit in the murder of over 10,000 people at the Stutthof concentration camp that was located in occupied Poland.
Another former Nazi camp guard, who is 101-years-old, was sentenced to five years in prison for being an accessory to murder in 3,500 cases at the Sachsenhausen camp.
Prosecutors, however, have had to close cases in recent years after the accused former camp workers died or were deemed physically unable to stand trial.
rs/msh (AFP, dpa)
Jewish memorials in Berlin
The Holocaust may have been eight decades ago, but it is never to be forgotten. Large and small memorials all over the German capital commemorate the victims of the Nazis.
Image: DW/M. Gwozdz
The Holocaust Memorial
A huge field of stelae in the center of the German capital was designed by New York architect Peter Eisenmann. The almost 3,000 stone blocks commemorate the six million Jewish people from all over Europe who were murdered by the Nazis.
Image: picture-alliance/Schoening
The "Stumbling Stones"
Designed by German artist Gunther Demnig, these brass plates are very small — only 10 by 10 centimeters (3.9 x 3.9 inches). They mark the homes and offices from which people were deported by the Nazis. Around 10,000 of them have been placed across Berlin.
Image: DW/T.Walker
House of the Wannsee Conference
Several high-ranking Nazi officials met in this villa on the Wannsee Lake in January 1942 to discuss the systematic murder of European Jews, which they termed the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question." Today the house is a memorial that informs visitors about the unimaginable dimension of the genocide that was decided here.
Image: Paul Zinken/dpa/picture alliance
Track 17 Memorial
White roses on track 17 at Grunewald station remember the more than 50,000 Berlin Jews who were sent to their deaths from here. 186 steel plates show the date, destination and number of deportees. The first train went to the Litzmannstadt ghetto (Lodz, Poland) on October 18, 1941; the last train to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on January 5, 1945.
Image: imago/IPON
Otto Weidt's Workshop for the Blind
Today, the Hackesche Höfe in Berlin Mitte are mentioned in every travel guide. They are a backyard labyrinth in which many Jewish people lived and worked — for example in the brush factory of the German entrepreneur Otto Weidt. During the Nazi era he employed many blind and deaf Jews and saved them from deportation and death. The workshop of the blind is now a museum.
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images
Fashion Center Hausvogteiplatz
The heart of Berlin's fashion metropolis once beat here. A memorial sign made of high mirrors recalls the Jewish fashion designers and stylists who made clothes for the whole of Europe at Hausvogteiplatz. The National Socialists expropriated the Jewish owners. Berlin's fashion center was irretrievably destroyed during the Second World War.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Kalaene
Memorial at Koppenplatz
Before the Holocaust, 173,000 Jews lived in Berlin; in 1945 there were only 9,000. The monument "Der verlassene Raum" (The Deserted Room) is located in the middle of the Koppenplatz residential area in Berlin's Mitte district. It is a reminder of the Jewish citizens who were taken from their homes without warning and never returned.
Image: Jörg Carstensen/dpa/picture alliance
The Jewish Museum
Architect Daniel Libeskind chose a dramatic design: viewed from above, the building looks like a broken Star of David. The Jewish Museum is one of the most visited museums in Berlin, offering an overview of the turbulent centuries of German Jewish history.
Image: Miguel Villagran/AP Photo/picture alliance
Weissensee Jewish Cemetery
There are still eight remaining Jewish cemeteries in Berlin, the largest of them in the Weissensee district. With over 115,000 graves, it is the largest Jewish cemetery in Europe. Many persecuted Jews hid in the complex premises during the Nazi era. On May 11, 1945, only three days after the end of the Second World War, the first postwar Jewish funeral service was held here.
When the New Synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse was first consecrated in 1866 it was considered the largest and most magnificent synagogue in Germany. One of Berlin's 13 synagogues to survive the Kristallnacht pogroms, it later burned down due to Allied bombs. It was reconstructed and opened again in 1995. Since then, the 50-meter-high golden dome once again dominates Berlin's cityscape.
Image: Stephan Schulz/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa/picture alliance
