German court found a 97-year-old woman guilty of more than 10,000 murders for her role as secretary to a Nazi SS commander who was in a concentration camp during World War II.
This was established by the court on Tuesday Irmgard Fürchner worked at the Stutthof concentration camp in present-day Poland, the Associated Press reports. Fercher claimed she was unaware of the 10,505 murders she was charged with. Prosecutors countered that the collection point for new arrivals at Stutthof was visible from her office window, and that the camp’s crematoria were constantly open during her time there.
Judge Dominique Gross found that she “simply could not imagine” that she was unaware of the killings taking place at the camp.
Furchner was tried in juvenile court, given that she was 18 and 19 years old at the time of the camp. She was sentenced to two years of probation, reports AP.
FORMER SECRETARY OF NAZI CAMPS UNDER GERMAN COURT, 96, ON THE RUN
Irmgard Furchner, accused of being part of the apparatus that helped run the Nazi concentration camp Stutthof, appears in court for her sentencing at her trial in Itzecho, Germany, Tuesday, December 20, 2022. (Christian Charizius/Pool photo via DPA)
Irmgard Furchner, accused of being part of the apparatus that helped run the Nazi concentration camp Stutthof, appears in court for her sentencing at her trial in Itzecho, Germany, Tuesday, December 20, 2022. (Christian Charizius/Pool photo via DPA)
Furchner reportedly tried to skip her first court-related hearing, prompting authorities to detain her. She said she was “sorry” for her actions during the sentencing.
Ephraim Zuroff, one of Germany’s top Nazi hunters, claimed the sentence was as good as could be expected.
“In light of Furchner’s recent statement in court that she ‘regrets everything,’ we were concerned that the court might accept her defense attorney’s request for an acquittal,” Zuroff told the AP. “But given her claim that she was unaware of the killings taking place in the camp, her remorse was far from convincing.”
The number of Nazis and Nazi collaborators left in Germany is dwindling as more than 75 years have passed since the end of World War II. However, German prosecutors say they have cases against five other people.
This undated photo shows a roll call in the early morning or late evening in the square outside the gates of the Sachsenhausen Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg on the outskirts of Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo, file)
Furchner’s conviction came more than a year after Germany tried and convicted ex-Hitler in 2021. The man’s name has not been released, but he was 100 years old at the time of his conviction.
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The man was charged with 3,518 counts of complicity to murder for his work as a guard at the Sachsenhausen camp between 1942 and 1945.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
