(JTA) — A 93-year-old former Nazi guard at Auschwitz will go on trial in Germany in April — the third such case to be tried in 2016.
A German court announced on Friday that the ex-Waffen SS guard, whose name has not been released, is fit to stand trial, Agence France Press reported.
The defendant, who worked at the death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland between Nov. 1, 1942, and June 25, 1943, is being charged as an accessory to murder. The German court, in Hanau, said that at least three trains carrying deportees arrived at the camp on his watch.
“Of the deportees, at least 1,075 people were cruelly and maliciously killed in the gas chambers after their arrival in Auschwitz,” the court said in a statement, according to AFP.
Three relatives of people murdered at Auschwitz are co-plaintiffs in the case.
In an accommodation to the defendant’s advanced age, hearings will be limited to four hours a day.
According to AFP, two other SS members from Auschwitz, are also scheduled to stand trial in 2016. Reinhold Hanning, a 94-year-old former guard, will appear in court next week, while Hubert Zafke, a 95-year-old ex-medic, will go on trial at the end of February. Both are charged with assisting in the killings of thousands of people at the camp.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
