German centenarian accused of complicity in murders in Nazi camp

A centenarian caught for acts committed more than 80 years ago. An investigation has been opened in Germany against a 105-year-old man, suspected of having been a guard in the Nazi camp of the Senne during the Second World War. The affair was revealed by the German tabloid Bild, which specified that another former regime official had also been the subject of an investigation. However, he died before a trial could begin.

Accused of “complicity in murder”

The information was confirmed by the Dortmund court to AFP: “the suspect, now aged 105, is believed to be a former guard at the Stalag 326 VI K prisoner of war camp.” The centenarian, a former Wehrmacht soldier (the army of the Third Reich), is accused of “complicity in multiple murders during his duties as a guard at the Senne camp”. Located near Paderborn (North Rhine-Westphalia), from 1941 to 1945, it housed between 180,000 and 200,000 prisoners of Soviet origin forced into forced labor in deplorable conditions, subjected to hunger and disease.

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In Germany, murder and complicity in murder are not subject to the statute of limitations, the centenarian could be tried for his actions if he is fit to appear. According to Bild, the latest trial for Nazi crimes saw the sentencing of a 97-year-old woman, former secretary of the Stutthof death camp, to two years of probation. The nonagenarian had been involved in more than 10,500 murder cases. For almost a year, justice has been investigating another centenarian who also served as a guard in the Hemer prisoner of war camp.