A former SS guard from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp is being tried. Numerous observers and co-plaintiffs from Germany and abroad are expected in Brandenburg / Havel.
More than 75 years after the end of the Second World War, a former SS guard has to answer for aiding and abetting murder.
According to the indictment, during his time in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp north of Berlin from 1942 to 1945, the 100-year-old is said to have knowingly and willingly provided help for the cruel and insidious murder of thousands of camp inmates. 3518 cases are charged.
More than 200,000 people were imprisoned in the camp from 1936 until the end of World War II in 1945. Tens of thousands of prisoners died from starvation, illness, forced labor, medical experiments and mistreatment or fell victim to systematic extermination by the SS.
Strict security measures
The trial before the Neuruppin Regional Court takes place under strict security precautions in the sports hall of the prison in Brandenburg / Havel. For organizational reasons, the jury had moved the hearing to the hall, which is outside the prison grounds.
According to the order of the presiding judge, judicial sergeants are to secure the process with a reserve. In addition, police forces could be deployed. All participants have to pass a security gate and will be searched. It is forbidden for visitors and journalists to bring computers and cell phones into the meeting room. Numerous press representatives from Germany and abroad have been accredited for the process.
According to the court, on the first of a total of 22 days of the trial, which will last into January, only the indictment will be read out. There may be further motions from the 15 co-plaintiffs – including survivors of the concentration camp. Witnesses have so far only been invited for later appointments.
The co-plaintiff’s attorney Thomas Walther had stated in the run-up to the trial that the German judiciary had neglected the processing of Nazi crimes for decades. “I think it is a big mistake of the judiciary in the past decades that the offense of aiding and abetting was not prosecuted,” he said. For the joint plaintiffs, the proceedings are extremely important. “You will be heard there and that has not happened enough so far.”
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