A former Nazi death camp guard's bid to suspend his sentence has been rejected by Germany's Constitutional Court. The 96-year-old will soon start his four-year prison term for his role in the murders of 300,000 people.
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Germany's highest court denied an appeal on Friday from 96-year-old Oskar Gröning to suspend his prison sentence on health grounds.
Known as the "Bookkeeper of Auschwitz," Gröning was convicted of aiding and abetting the murder of 300,000 people at the Auschwitz concentration camp and sentenced to serve four years in prison.
The German National Socialist Workers' party profoundly affected the course of 20th-century world history with their ideology, propaganda and crimes. Who were the key leaders of the movement?
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Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945)
As Hitler's Propaganda Minister, the virulently anti-Semitic Goebbels was responsible for making sure a single, iron-clad Nazi message reached every citizen of the Third Reich. He strangled freedom of the press, controlled all media, arts, and information, and pushed Hitler to declare "Total War." He and his wife committed suicide in 1945, after poisoning their six children.
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Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)
The leader of the German National Socialist Workers' Party (Nazi) developed his anti-Semitic, anti-communist and racist ideology well before coming to power as Chancellor in 1933. He undermined political institutions to transform Germany into a totalitarian state. From 1939 to 1945, he led Germany in World War II while overseeing the Holocaust. He committed suicide in April 1945.
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Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945)
As leader of the Nazi paramilitary SS ("Schutzstaffel"), Himmler was one of the Nazi party members most directly responsible for the Holocaust. He also served as Chief of Police and Minister of the Interior, thereby controlling all of the Third Reich's security forces. He oversaw the construction and operations of all extermination camps, in which more than 6 million Jews were murdered.
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Rudolf Hess (1894-1987)
Hess joined the Nazi party in 1920 and took part in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, a failed Nazi attempt to gain power. While in prison, he helped Hitler write "Mein Kampf." Hess flew to Scotland in 1941 to attempt a peace negotiation, where he was arrested and held until the war's end. In 1946, he stood trial in Nuremberg and was sentenced to life in prison, where he died.
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Adolf Eichmann (1906-1962)
Alongside Himmler, Eichmann was one of the chief organizers of the Holocaust. As an SS Lieutenant colonel, he managed the mass deportations of Jews to Nazi extermination camps in Eastern Europe. After Germany's defeat, Eichmann fled to Austria and then to Argentina, where he was captured by the Israeli Mossad in 1960. Tried and found guilty of crimes against humanity, he was executed in 1962.
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Hermann Göring (1893-1946)
A participant in the failed Beer Hall Putsch, Göring became the second-most powerful man in Germany once the Nazis took power. He founded the Gestapo, the Secret State Police, and served as Luftwaffe commander until just before the war's end, though he increasingly lost favor with Hitler. Göring was sentenced to death at Nuremberg but committed suicide the night before it was enacted.
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What we know:
The court said that there were no identifiable health risks and that medical precautions could be taken in prison
The decision noted that his sentence could be interrupted if a prisoner's health significantly deteriorates
Gröning will serve his sentence at a prison in the northern state of Lower Saxony where elderly prisoners can be cared for
The 96-year-old will start his sentence soon
His lawyers had argued that the prison term would violate his right to life
Court upholds 'Bookkeeper of Auschwitz' conviction (28.11.2016)
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Prison term carries 'special weight'
The judges on Constitutional Court wrote in their decision that carrying out Gröning sentence "carried a special weight" considering the crimes he was convicted of.
Kathrin Söfker, a spokeswoman with the public prosecutor's office in Hanover, said that Gröning will now be called up on to start his sentence, saying: "That should happen soon."
What was his role at Auschwitz: Gröning voluntarily joined the Nazi's elite Waffen-SS at the age of 21 and was stationed at Auschwitz in 1942. He was a bookkeeper who sorted and assessed money and valuables taken from prisoners before sending it back to his superiors in Berlin.
What did he say during his trial: The former SS guard told the court that he felt a "moral guilt" for serving at Auschwitz, but that he was not personally involved in mass murder. He was convicted by a court in Lüneburg in 2015.
One of the last cases: Gröning's case is one of the last criminal cases in Germany against a surviving member of the Nazi regime. Some 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust carried out under Adolf Hitler, many of whom died in concentration camps including Auschwitz.
What happens next: It was unclear which legal options, if any, remain available to delay the sentence. Should no further legal action be taken, his 96-year-old client will begin his prison sentence.
