Europe24 September, 20262 min read
German Prosecutors Investigate 105-Year-Old Nazi POW Camp Guard Over Stalag 326 VI K Murders
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105-year-old man investigated for possible crimes at Stalag 326 VI K POW camp. Accused of being an accessory to multiple murders during World War II, prosecutors say.
Germany probes 105-year-old
German prosecutors are investigating a 105-year-old man over allegations that he was an accessory to multiple murders at the Nazi prisoner-of-war camp Stalag 326 VI K in the Senne region of western Germany. Prosecutors said the suspect is thought to have been a guard at Stalag 326 VI K, and they accused him of being an accessory to multiple murders through his activities there. The Senne camp held between 180,000 and 200,000 Soviet prisoners of war between 1941 and April 1945, when it was liberated by American troops.
The memorial at the site says that of the approximately 5.3 to 5.7 million Soviet prisoners of war taken into German captivity overall, between 2.3 and three million did not survive. German prosecutors said the case was handled by the public prosecutor’s office in Dortmund, and they said the investigation centres on the Senne camp in what is now the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
Senne numbers and conditions
The memorial says the Senne camp housed between 180,000 and 200,000 Soviet prisoners of war between 1941 and April 1945, and it says the camp was one of the biggest. The memorial says that one in three Soviet PoWs entering Nazi Germany between 1941 and 1945 went through the complex at Senne. The memorial says Soviet prisoners of war suffered from malnutrition, inadequate medical care, appalling sanitary conditions, and forced labor.
German prosecutors said the 105-year-old investigation is still under way, and the BBC said there has been no statute of limitations in Germany for either murder or accessory to murder since 1979. The BBC said PoWs from France, Poland, Serbia and Belgium were also held at Senne, alongside Soviet prisoners of war.
Time pressure and next steps
German prosecutors said the case highlights the difficulties faced by prosecutors who continue to investigate Nazi-era crimes, with most of the remaining suspects already dead. The Guardian said the investigation is the result of an urgent last-minute scramble by the judiciary to prosecute alleged participants in the Nazi killing machine before they die. The Guardian said the judicial efforts stem in part from a recognition that many suspects escaped prosecution in the eight decades since the end of the second world war on the grounds that they were considered to have played an insignificant role.
The Guardian cited the 2011 conviction of John Demjanjuk, and it said Demjanjuk died aged 91 in March 2012 awaiting an appeal due to his age and frailty. The Guardian said a separate investigation was opened last year by Dortmund prosecutors into a 100-year-old former guard at a PoW camp in Hemer, where the suspect was suspected of participating in executions between December 1943 and September 1944.