94 year old former Auschwitz guard goes on trial in Germany

[Wagriff]

Posted: Thursday, February 11, 2016 1:30 am

Associated Press |

DETMOLD, Germany (AP) — A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard is going on trial on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder in western Germany, accused of serving in the death camp at a time when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were gassed.

Former SS Sgt. Reinhold Hanning maintains that he served in a part of the Auschwitz camp complex where no gassings were taking place. Prosecutors argue that all guards helped the camp function, and that during the so-called "Hungarian action" in 1944 almost all were called upon to help deal with the vast numbers of people arriving at the killing complex in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Leon Schwarzbaum, a 94-year-old Auschwitz survivor from Berlin, is scheduled to testify Thursday, the opening day of the trial. It is unclear whether Hanning will first make a statement.

[BOB COLEMAN]

Please keep your comments to a historical nature. No Neo-Nazi views will be tolerated so think before you type. Keep on subject.

[Wagriff]

? I made no comment,Bob...just posted a news article.

[BOB COLEMAN]

? I made no comment,Bob...just posted a news article.

I agree and please note that none of my comments were not aimed at you. Sometimes these type of threads bring out some unsavory comments and I am only trying to head them off.

[Gunny Hartmann]

[Glenn66]

'Dangerous waters' be sailed with threads like these...I'm saying nowt.

[CARL]

Moved to the appropriate forum.

[big ned]

'Dangerous waters' be sailed with threads like these...I'm saying nowt.

Arr Glenn lad.....Ye be right about that, arr....!!!

[CBH]

I'll begin , it seems to me like a witch hunt for SS camp guard survivors . Germany and the West in general were guilty of using former SS member with blood soaked pasts to fight the rise of Communism in Europe . The German Police were all but forgiven for their pasts , and put back into uniform . The US with operation Paper Clip used SS men and white washed their pasts as well . So I feel it's Western Guilt , making governments hunt down the few survivors left in an attempt too make up for past complicities with the infamous SS . Also anyone who could spill the beans on them is long dead , this man has unfortunately out lived the guilty and make the mistake of talking about his past , this trail wouldn't have happened if he wasn't interviewed . Which is truly sad .

[Gimmie]

I think most of these SS men were young and eager and due to the things that Hitler at the time had done for Germany, national pride was probably at an all time high, people were ready to die for Germany, something that is seen a lot less today. I think that the man should just be left alone for the last few years he has left on this earth. In the interview that I saw it really looked like the man was unable to forget anything that he had seen there, seeing as he was talking about, and I quote, ''The stench of dead bodies filling the air''. I dont think putting a 94 year old man in jail just so he could die there in two years of natural causes seems logical.