Germany: oldest accused of Nazi crimes facing justice
Joseph Schütz, former guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, hiding his face from the photographers, in the courtroom before his trial, October 7, 2021. REUTERS - ANNEGRET HILSE
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
It is one of the last trials of people involved in the Holocaust.
German justice is still pursuing a few nonagenarians.
This Thursday morning, near Berlin, a trial opened against a centenarian, a former camp guard during the Second World War
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He is the oldest accused ever to be tried in a Holocaust-related trial.
Joseph Schütz, who was a guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin between 1942 and 1945, will soon be turning 101.
A doctor ruled in August that the accused was fit to appear by limiting hearings to two hours a day.
Appearing free, Joseph Schütz entered the room using a walker, for the first of the 22 scheduled audiences, hiding his face from the photographers of a cardboard pocket, reports our correspondent in Berlin,
Pascal Thibaut.
He did not speak before his trial. However, he replied in a clear voice to the president of the court, who asked him to confirm his identity and his personal situation.
Joseph Schütz
is accused of "complicity in the murders" of 3,500 prisoners of the former concentration camp which, between 1936 and 1945, accommodated some 200,000 prisoners, mainly political opponents, Jews and homosexuals.
The centenary is also suspected of having shot Soviet prisoners and participating in the gassing of detainees.
Final trials
Joseph Schütz was 21 years old in 1942, he only had the rank of master corporal. Older during the war, "
the officers of higher rank are long dead
," says lawyer Thomas Walther who tracks down former Nazis. “
Only the lower ranks can theoretically still be alive today and brought to justice.
The lawyer had assembled a prosecution case which led in 2011 to the conviction of
John Demjanjuk
, 90, a former guard at the Sobibor extermination camp (Poland).
The trial which opened on Thursday is one of the last brought by the German justice system.
A former secretary of the Stutthof camp in Poland today, who fled when her trial opened last week, will be tried from October 19.
If the second-rate Nazi executors must be held to account today, it is in particular thanks to a modification of the jurisprudence ten years ago, of which Thomas Walther is at the origin.
Prosecutions are now possible for former camp guards or administrative staff without the need to prove that they directly committed murders.
Controversies over late justice
The controversies over the relevance of such late justice annoy the lawyer: "
No one protests when a murderer is prosecuted for facts dating back 30 years, but it is considered problematic to prosecute old people when it comes to 1000 or 5,000 murders, for which active assistance was provided over a three-year period.
"
Thomas Walther wants to believe that these trials also offer the executioners a possible path towards "
justice and peace
".
While sending a dissuasive "warning": "
There are places and acts which one should not associate with
" under penalty of one day having to answer for his crimes.
Joseph Schütz is the oldest surviving Nazi accused of crimes.
His desire not to speak out on the facts and in particular the refusal of a possible pardon was coldly received by the civil parties.
Theoretically, he risks at least 3 years in prison, but his sentence will certainly be symbolic given his great age.
Eight other files of former SS are currently examined by various German prosecutors.
► To read also: Germany: towards an abolition of the last Nazi laws
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