101-year-old former Nazi non-commissioned officer could be sentenced to 5 years in prison

101-year-old former Nazi non-commissioned officer could be sentenced to 5 years in prison

However, if he is convicted, he is expected to avoid jail due to poor health.

the attorney general, Cyrill Clementsaid that the prosecution’s evidence was “fully confirmed”and accused him not only of having adapted to the conditions of the field but of having made a career there.

Throughout the trial, which began in October at the Brandenburg-Havel court (east), the centenarian maintained that he had never exercised any responsibility in Sachsenhausen. He claims to have been a farm worker during this period, despite documents to the contrary.

For the prosecutor, there is no “no doubt that Mr. Schütz worked in Sachsenhausen”.

For this reason, the prosecution requested a sentence higher than the minimum of three years in prison for complicity in murder provided for in the German penal code.

Schütz remained impassive after the announcement. A verdict is expected in early June.

Germany, which for years was reluctant to try all perpetrators of Nazi crimes, has expanded its investigations in the last decade to camp guards and others who were part of the Nazi machine.

But these trials of very old people raised questions about this late justice.

The trial of Josef Schütz, who was 21 years old when the events began, had to be interrupted several times due to his health.

He is suspected of, among other things, shooting Soviet prisoners and “aiding and abetting” Zyklon B-type “gas murders.”

The Sachsenhausen camp, active between 1936 and April 22, 1945, when the Soviets liberated it, housed some 200,000 prisoners, mainly political opponents, Jews and homosexuals.

Tens of thousands of them died, mainly from exhaustion due to forced labor and harsh living conditions.

Source: Ambito

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest Posts