Nazi death camp guard, 94, found guilty
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A 94-year-old former SS sergeant who served as a guard at Auschwitz has been found guilty of more than 170,000 counts of accessory to murder for helping kill 1.1 million Jews and others at the Nazi death camp.
The Detmold state court sentenced Reinhold Hanning to five years in prison, but he will remain free while any appeals are heard.
Hanning showed no reaction as the judge, Anke Grudda, read her justification for the verdict and sentence.
“You were in Auschwitz for two and a half years, performed an important function ... You were part of a criminal organization and took part in criminal activity in Auschwitz,” she said.
Several elderly Auschwitz survivors testified at the trial about their own experiences, and were among 58 survivors or their families who joined the process as co-plaintiffs as allowed under German law.
“It is a just verdict, but he should say more, tell the truth for the young people,” said Leon Schwarzbaum, a 95-year-old Auschwitz survivor from Berlin.
“He is an old man and probably won’t have to go to jail, but he should say what happened at Auschwitz. Auschwitz was like something the world has never seen.”
Schwarzbaum said he does not want Hanning to go to prison and is happy that he apologized, but had hoped that he would provide more details about his time in Auschwitz for the sake of educating younger generations.
During his four-month trial, Hanning admitted serving as an Auschwitz guard. He said he was ashamed that he was aware Jews were being killed but did nothing to try to stop it.
He had faced a maximum of 15 years. Hanning’s defense had called for an acquittal, saying there is no evidence he killed or beat anyone, while prosecutors sought a six-year sentence.
Hanning said during his trial that he volunteered for the SS at age 18 and served in Auschwitz from January 1942 to June 1944 but said he was not involved in the killings in the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
“It disturbs me deeply that I was part of such a criminal organization,” Hanning told the court in April. “I am ashamed that I saw injustice and never did anything about it and I apologize for my actions.”
Hanning joined the Hitler Youth with his class in 1935 at age 13, then volunteered at 18 for the Waffen SS in 1940 at the urging of his stepmother. He fought in several battles in World War II before being hit by grenade splinters in his head and leg during close combat in Kiev in 1941.
He told the court that as he was recovering from his wounds he asked to be sent back but his commander decided he was no longer fit for front-line duty, and so sent him to Auschwitz, without his knowing what it was.
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