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| Germany Sends 30 Death Camp Cases to Local Prosecutors | Germany Sends 30 Death Camp Cases to Local Prosecutors |
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| BERLIN — German justice officials recommended Tuesday that local prosecutors open investigations against 30 surviving guards from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on suspicion that they were accessories to murder, part of an effort to bring lower-level perpetrators of the Holocaust to justice. | BERLIN — German justice officials recommended Tuesday that local prosecutors open investigations against 30 surviving guards from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp on suspicion that they were accessories to murder, part of an effort to bring lower-level perpetrators of the Holocaust to justice. |
| The list came from an original pool of 50 former guards drawn up by the justice authorities this year, after the conviction of John Demjanjuk in 2011 set a precedent in German law. A Munich court found Mr. Demjanjuk, a former autoworker who had long lived in the United States, guilty of being an accessory to the murder of all 28,060 people who died at the Sobibor death camp during his time there as a guard, despite a lack of evidence specifically linking him to the deaths. | The list came from an original pool of 50 former guards drawn up by the justice authorities this year, after the conviction of John Demjanjuk in 2011 set a precedent in German law. A Munich court found Mr. Demjanjuk, a former autoworker who had long lived in the United States, guilty of being an accessory to the murder of all 28,060 people who died at the Sobibor death camp during his time there as a guard, despite a lack of evidence specifically linking him to the deaths. |
| Kurt Schrimm, the chief prosecutor for Nazi-era crimes, said that in the wake of that ruling, his office viewed service as a watchman or sentry at one of the six death camps run by the Nazis as a punishable crime. | Kurt Schrimm, the chief prosecutor for Nazi-era crimes, said that in the wake of that ruling, his office viewed service as a watchman or sentry at one of the six death camps run by the Nazis as a punishable crime. |
| “We take the view that this job, regardless of what they can be individually accused of, makes them guilty of complicity in murder,” Reuters quoted Mr. Schrimm as saying. | “We take the view that this job, regardless of what they can be individually accused of, makes them guilty of complicity in murder,” Reuters quoted Mr. Schrimm as saying. |
| His office, the Central Office for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes, will give its information on the 30 former guards, who range in age from 86 to 97 and include a few women, to local prosecutors in 11 states. | His office, the Central Office for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes, will give its information on the 30 former guards, who range in age from 86 to 97 and include a few women, to local prosecutors in 11 states. |
| The office said it had identified seven additional suspects living outside the country, in Austria, Brazil, Croatia, the United States, Poland and even one in Israel. Two others could not be found, it said. | The office said it had identified seven additional suspects living outside the country, in Austria, Brazil, Croatia, the United States, Poland and even one in Israel. Two others could not be found, it said. |
| In May, the authorities in Stuttgart arrested Hans Lipschis, 93, who worked as a guard at Auschwitz. He is being held there pending an investigation into his role at the camp, where he is believed to have worked from 1941 to 1945. | In May, the authorities in Stuttgart arrested Hans Lipschis, 93, who worked as a guard at Auschwitz. He is being held there pending an investigation into his role at the camp, where he is believed to have worked from 1941 to 1945. |
| “This is really an important milestone in the efforts to bring Nazis to justice,” Efraim Zuroff, the chief Nazi hunter for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said of the announcement on Tuesday. “There has never been anything like this in recent years. Until now you had to prove a specific crime against a specific victim, and as odd as it sounds, it is easier to prove an individual murder anywhere else than in a death camp.” | “This is really an important milestone in the efforts to bring Nazis to justice,” Efraim Zuroff, the chief Nazi hunter for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said of the announcement on Tuesday. “There has never been anything like this in recent years. Until now you had to prove a specific crime against a specific victim, and as odd as it sounds, it is easier to prove an individual murder anywhere else than in a death camp.” |
| Germany has long grappled with the bitter legacy of the Nazis. In the years immediately after World War II, trials were held in domestic and international courts, but many criminals escaped justice by fleeing to the United States or Latin America. | Germany has long grappled with the bitter legacy of the Nazis. In the years immediately after World War II, trials were held in domestic and international courts, but many criminals escaped justice by fleeing to the United States or Latin America. |
| Mr. Demjanjuk, who lived in Cleveland after the war, died last year before a higher court could rule on his case. But the ruling opened the door for the pursuit of dozens of other former concentration camp guards. Many were known to the authorities but could not be charged under previous interpretations of the law. | Mr. Demjanjuk, who lived in Cleveland after the war, died last year before a higher court could rule on his case. But the ruling opened the door for the pursuit of dozens of other former concentration camp guards. Many were known to the authorities but could not be charged under previous interpretations of the law. |
| The next step for Mr. Schrimm’s office will be to widen the search to include former guards from five other death camps and the elite forces, or einsatzgruppen, who committed mass killings there, the office said. In addition to Auschwitz, the extermination camps built by the Nazis in occupied Poland were Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka. | The next step for Mr. Schrimm’s office will be to widen the search to include former guards from five other death camps and the elite forces, or einsatzgruppen, who committed mass killings there, the office said. In addition to Auschwitz, the extermination camps built by the Nazis in occupied Poland were Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, Sobibor and Treblinka. |
| “This undertaking is proving to be most difficult, as it involves going through the entire collection of files,” the office said in a statement. It added that it planned to wrap up its investigation into the identification of former guards from the Majdanek death camp within the next six months. | “This undertaking is proving to be most difficult, as it involves going through the entire collection of files,” the office said in a statement. It added that it planned to wrap up its investigation into the identification of former guards from the Majdanek death camp within the next six months. |
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: | This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: |
| Correction: September 6, 2013 | |
An | An article on Wednesday about a recommendation by German justice officials that local prosecutors pursue investigations against 30 surviving guards from the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp referred incorrectly to the elite Nazi forces known as einsatzgruppen. They were death squads responsible for mass killings at the Nazi death camps and elsewhere during World War II; they did not patrol the camps. |