The Dortmund public prosecutor's office is investigating a 105-year-old for Nazi crimes

The Dortmund public prosecutor's office is investigating a 105-year-old who is said to have been a guard in a Wehrmacht prisoner of war camp in East Westphalia during the Second World War. It's about the accusation of complicity in multiple murders, said a spokeswoman for the authority. As the central office for processing Nazi mass crimes, the Dortmund public prosecutor's office is responsible for such proceedings throughout North Rhine-Westphalia. Several media outlets had previously reported on the case.

The man is said to have been deployed to the Stalag 326 prisoner of war camp in Stukenbrock-Senne near Bielefeld. The camp on the edge of the Teutoburg Forest served primarily to accommodate Soviet prisoners of war who were distributed for forced labor.

There are still individual legal proceedings against very old people who worked in concentration camps during the National Socialist era. Courts recently ruled that service in a camp can, under certain circumstances, be considered an accessory to murder if a person knowingly and willingly supported the systematic killing.

Murder and aiding and abetting murder do not have a statute of limitations under German law. That is why investigations and trials against those involved in Nazi crimes are still possible.