Former Nazi Medical Orderly to Stand Trial for Deaths of 3,681 People at Auschwitz
In February, a former member of the Nazi SS will stand trial for the deaths of 3,681 people, the BBC reports. Prosecutors say Hubert Zafke, 95, was an SS medical orderly at Auschwitz from October 1943 to January 1944, and an accessory to murder.
Over a million people, mostly Jews, were killed at Auschwitz. The indictment against Zafke covers one month in 1944—August 15 to September 14. (Anne Frank arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau during this time, but was held in a different part of the camp from where Zafke worked.)
The trial date was set after an appeals court overturned an earlier ruling that the accused was not fit to stand trial. According to Agence France-Presse, German media has reported that Zafke suffers from dementia. The appeals court acknowledged his “cognitive impairments and low physical capacity.”
.@BBCWorld Hubert Zafke served at Auschwitz as well as Gross-Rosen, Sachsenhausen and Neuengamme camps. pic.twitter.com/tqAdjdQAhX
— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) January 18, 2016
Prosecutors have said that Zafke was “aware of the purpose of the Birkenau camp as an extermination camp.”
“Given his awareness, the accused lent support to the organisation of the camp and was thereby both involved in and advanced the extermination,” they said.
The trial is scheduled to start on February 29, in Neubrandenburg.
Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.