A former SS guard known as the “book-keeper of Auschwitz” has been sentenced to four years in prison for aiding the murder of at least 300,000 Jews.
Oscar Groening, now aged 94, was sentenced in court in the north German city of Lueneburg.
He had stood trial in front of Holocaust survivors and victims’ relatives over the past four months.
Groening worked in Auschwitz for two years, but was convicted for his actions between May and July 1944, when he was in charge of counting money and possessions confiscated from new arrivals. During this time period, at least 300,000 people were gassed to death.
Although Groening’s lawyers argued he did not contribute directly to the murders, he admitted to “moral guilt” for his time working at the extermination camp. Prosecutors made the case that his time as a guard had made things run smoothly at the camp.
Groening’s trial was only made possible in 2011, when German courts allowed prosecutors to charge people with complicity in the Holocaust even without any evidence they committed murder.
This is the first conviction in a number of prosecutions that have been brought since this ruling.
The court's ruling has been celebrated by leading figures in the community.
Olivia Marks-Woldman, chief executive of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust said: "The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust welcomes this verdict, very likely one of the last times someone who helped perpetrate the Holocaust will be judged. Even 70 years after the end of the Holocaust, the need for justice remains powerful.
"British survivors Susan Pollack and Ivor Perl showed huge courage and determination by travelling to Germany to testify about their experiences of Auschwitz. Oscar Groening was part of the Nazi killing machine which murdered six million Jewish people, and it is right that a court has judged him for his role."
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust said that "the conviction of Oscar Groening for his actions sends an unequivocal message that, although he may not have led or directly participated in the atrocities at Auschwitz, he was clearly an accessory to the crimes perpetrated by the Nazis.
"By being the 'book-keeper' of Auschwitz, he assisted in and facilitated the murder of 300,000 Jewish men, women and children and it is right that he has now been held legally accountable for this.”
