Former Nazi Camp guard charged...

[Brian37]

Former Nazi death camp guard charged with 36,000 counts of accessory to murder. 

https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-...nazi-death

[Minimalist]

"The 95-year-old suspect was not charged with any specific killings related to the camp's operation.

"With his service as a guard he aided or at least made easier the killing of many thousands of inmates," Berlin prosecutor Martin Steltner told CBS News."


95, huh?  I get the feeling that this prosecutor sees the end of his cushy job coming and is desperate to do something.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

There are dedicated Nazi hunters out there.

[Deesse23]

"The 95-year-old suspect was not charged with any specific killings related to the camp's operation.

"With his service as a guard he aided or at least made easier the killing of many thousands of inmates," Berlin prosecutor Martin Steltner told CBS News."


95, huh?  I get the feeling that this prosecutor sees the end of his cushy job coming and is desperate to do something.

This is not about actually locking up an old man. Its a matter of principle. Its a statement, just like GW Bush made after 9/11: "We.will.get.you".

[Minimalist]

Let's try this a different way.

A prison guard in the US kills an inmate.  Does the secretary working in the warden's office need to be imprisoned, too?

I'm all for punishing war criminals.  I'd like to see us punish our own.  But this guy was basically stationed there - and he probably wasn't a volunteer - and they can't pin a single crime against him personally?  That's going too far.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If the secretary seeing thousands of people go in and there's a cloud of smoke that smells like burned meat hanging over the camp...

[Minimalist]

Mauthausen was not Auschwitz.

[Deesse23]

Mauthausen was not Auschwitz.

Yes, *only* 100.000 out of 200.000 inmates got killed. It also wasnt a "death camp", whose sole purpose was to kill people, it was the first KZ on german territory intended for "death through labour". I guess the victims didnt note much of a difference tho. It also was the first one to feature a "camp brothel" where female inmates were forced into prostitution, and when they contracted some STD they were used as guinea pigs.  

The guard in question however is charged with quite concrete participation in murder: In February 1945 he is alleged to have taken part in a regular "punishment" for inmates, "bathing to death". This is getting 300 inmates naked, showering them with cold water (in February!) and having them stand on the drill square for one day and one night. If you were alive by then, you were beaten to death by the SS Totenkopf guards.

He is also charged with having taken part in an action to take vengeance for 400 russian PoWs escaping the camp. 300 inmates got killed by participation of all guards according to witnesses.

Since February 1945 there also was a crematorium.

Charging guards with assisted murder reflects a change in practice of law in Germany over the decades. It is assumed that guards in infamous KZs were quite aware of the systematical murder going on there, while not committing murder themselves, hence the *assisted* murde charge.
He is finally accused because it is assumed to be evident that he must have been known of all the (and i didnt even mention the most horrific ones: like injecting mixtures containing fuel into inmates´ hearts) different means of killing, of the intention to kill, and the necessity of his job as a guard to achieve this goal.