The Itzehoe regional court had prepared what was possibly the last Nazi trial in Germany for months. But the very old defendant fled – and must now face the consequences.
The trial in Itzehoe of a former secretary in the Stutthof concentration camp caused a lot of fuss before it could even begin. In what was possibly the last Nazi trial in Germany, the Itzehoe Regional Court ordered the 96-year-old defendant to be detained.
The criminal chamber reacted to the attempt of the former secretary in the Stutthof concentration camp to evade the trial. “The court announced the defendant’s arrest warrant. She is now being taken to the pre-trial detention center,” said court spokeswoman Frederike Milhoffer on Thursday. The detention was ordered “until further notice”. Because of the absence of the accused at the start of the trial on Thursday morning, the criminal chamber had suspended the trial until October 19.
“Until further notice” in custody
Even on Friday, the woman was still in custody, like a court spokeswoman stern confirmed. “She is in a prison until further notice,” said the spokeswoman. The court had previously convinced itself of the suitability for imprisonment with the help of the responsible doctor. The spokeswoman did not say in which correctional facility the 96-year-old is. It is quite possible that she was still in custody at the start of the trial.
The defendant is charged with complicity in murder in more than 11,000 cases. As a typist and typist in the headquarters of Stutthof near Danzig, she is said to have helped those responsible at the camp with the systematic killing of prisoners between June 1943 and April 1945. According to the central office in Ludwigsburg responsible for investigating Nazi crimes, around 6,000 people died in the German concentration camp and its sub-camps, as well as on the so-called death marches at the end of the war.
According to the court spokeswoman, the 96-year-old left her place of residence on Thursday between 6 a.m. and 7:20 a.m. and took a taxi to Norderstedt / Hamburg-Ochsenzoll. According to “Bild” information, she was walking on Langenhorner Chaussee in Hamburg at noon when police officers noticed her.
The defendant 96-year-old had written to the court that she did not want to come
Milhoffer confirmed that the 96-year-old had stated in a letter to the court a few days before the planned start of the trial that she did not want to come. The presiding judge then told her what measures the criminal chamber would take should she actually not come. Based on the announcement alone, the court could not have issued an arrest warrant against the 96-year-old, said Milhoffer. That is not legally permissible.
In the hearing in the morning, more than 50 journalists and spectators, twelve representatives of the 30 co-plaintiffs, the defense attorney and other parties involved in the process had been waiting for the hearing to begin. The prosecution was planned to be read out. That should now happen at the next appointment on October 19th. In order to be able to carry out the internationally recognized process under Corona conditions, it does not take place in the Itzeho court building, but in the premises of a logistics company on the outskirts.
Trial of the Stutthof concentration camp: Former secretary must be present at every appointment
The chamber assumes that negotiations can take place for at least one and a half to two hours on each day of the trial, the spokeswoman said. The accused should be picked up from her place of residence at each appointment, accompanied by a doctor. The court has set 26 further hearing dates. If she remains in custody, she would have to be taken from the remand prison to the trial room.
In the past, there was no court date to which the defendant had to appear, said Milhoffer. The spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office, Peter Müller-Rakow, also left it open as to whether representatives of the prosecution had spoken to Irmgard F. “The accused has been given a fair hearing,” said the chief prosecutor simply. Public defender Wolf Molkentin also did not comment on possible meetings with the 96-year-old. He just said: “As a defense attorney, I couldn’t do my job if I didn’t also have contact with the respective client.”
The Irmgard F. case was handed over to the Itzeho public prosecutor’s office in the summer of 2016 from the central office in Ludwigsburg. A preliminary investigation was then initiated and charges were brought in January 2021. “This preliminary investigation is of an extraordinary nature. You consider the facts and you consider the time of the crime,” said Müller-Rakow. Documents from the former concentration camp were evaluated and witnesses in the USA and Israel were heard. A historian had prepared an expert opinion on the role and function of the defendants in the Stutthof concentration camp. Above all, Jewish prisoners, Polish partisans and Soviet prisoners of war were systematically killed in the camp. According to the defense counsel, however, no documents were found that the defendant signed with her name or abbreviation.
Probation for a former security guard in the Stutthof concentration camp
In July 2020, the Hamburg district court sentenced a former security guard in Stutthof to two years’ probation. The court found the 93-year-old guilty of complicity in murder in 5230 cases – at least as many prisoners were, according to the conviction of the criminal chamber, murdered during the defendant’s service in 1944/45 in Stutthof.
The trial of the then 93-year-old Bruno D. lasted nine months. There were 45 negotiations. After the corona pandemic began in March 2021, the process had to take place under strict hygiene requirements. Nevertheless, the defendant did not miss a single session, only one appointment had to be terminated prematurely because the defendant did not feel well.
See the events on Thursday in the video: The former secretary of the Stutthof concentration camp accused before the Itzehoe district court was arrested on Thursday after her escape.
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