Former Auschwitz guard on trial for 300,000 deaths

Judges in Germany are to decide the fate of a man on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder following allegations he assisted in the functioning of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland while serving there as a guard.

Oskar Groening, 93, in what is expected to be one of the final Nazi trials, is accused of serving at the camp between May and June of 1944, during which time 425,000 Jews from Hungary were brought in, with at least 300,000 immediately being gassed to death.

Mr Groening said he was “morally” guilty and described his job which involved confsicating money from new arrivals to the camp.

He added that while he witnessed the mass killing he was not personally involved in them.

Speaking to the judges he said: “I ask for forgiveness. I share morally in the guilt but whether I am guilty under criminal law, you will have to decide.”

Speaking to Der Spiegel in 2005, Mr Groening said his role as a guard was not criminal.

He said: “If you can describe that as guilt, then I am guilty, but not voluntarily. Legally speaking, I am innocent.”

In the 1980s charges brought against him were dropped because there was a lack of evidence indicating his personal involvement.

But in the wake of a recent ruling prosecutors think the mere fact he worked at the camp may be enough to secure a conviction.

Auschwitz survivor Hedy Bohm told Reuters: “What I hope to hear is that aiding in the killing machinery is going to be considered as a crime.

“So then no one in the future can do what he did and claim innocence.”

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