94-Year-Old Former Auschwitz Guard Goes On Trial in Germany, Survivors Testify

An ex-Auschwitz guard, who is allegedly involved in the gassing of more than hundreds of thousands of Jews in Western Germany, was sent to trial for 170,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Old age is usually synonymous to moments when one looks back at their younger days. However, for former SS Sgt. Reingold Hanning, it meant flashbacks on his days as a guard in Auschwitz. It was reported that Hanning was taken into trial in Detmold, Germany for taking part in the harrowing gassing of 170,000 Hungarian Jews in Western Germany.

As a form of defense, Hanning holds on to the statement that he served in an area in Auschwitz where no gassings happened. Prosecutors for the controversial case are arguing that every single guard serving in Auschwitz took a role in the gassing that was then called "Hungarian Action" in 1944. Hundreds of thousands of Jews from Hungary were sent to the death camp, and since the numbers of prisoners were increasing by the day, all guards were asked to help in the killing ceremonies.

94-year-old Auschwitz survivor, Leon Schwarzbaum, testified on Thursday, which was the first day of the trial, Yahoo News reports.

"I think people responsible for helping make the whole apparatus function, even if they were a tiny gear in the machine, should be convicted," said Schwarzbaum to the Associated Press, as reported by BBC.

Hanning's trial is the first of three scheduled trials against former guards, or known as ageing Third Reich criminals. The rest of the trials are set to happen within this year.

Christoph Heubner of the International Auschwitz Committee, said to website France24 that the trials present an opportunity to make up for the "failures of Germany's justice system."

Another survivor, Angela Orosz, is also set to testify against Hanning. Orosz released a statement in support of the trial.

"Without these people and their active support for the Holocaust, what happened in Auschwitz, the murder of 1.1 million people in just a few years would not have been possible, and perhaps many of my family members would still be alive," said Orosz as posted by France24.

Tags

Auschwitz Death Camp, Auschwitz, Reingold Hanning, Germany, Hungary, Holocaust, Hungarian Action

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