A former secretary in the Stutthof concentration camp is accused of aiding and abetting the murder of over 11,000 people. After trying to escape, the 96-year-old now has to listen to the charges.
Itzehoe – In a second attempt, the trial against a former concentration camp secretary is to begin before the Itzehoe district court. The 96-year-old Irmgard F. is charged with aiding and abetting murder in over 11,000 cases in the Stutthof concentration camp.
When the trial actually began on September 30, the defendant did not appear. According to the court, she was in hiding. Several hours later, the woman was arrested by the police in Hamburg. The court issued an arrest warrant. After five days, the 96-year-old was released from custody under precautionary measures.
According to the public prosecutor’s office, Irmgard F. had worked in the headquarters of the German concentration camp near Danzig from June 1943 to April 1945. As a stenographer and typist, she is charged with helping those responsible at the camp with the systematic killing of prisoners. The indictment is expected to be read out on Tuesday. 30 joint plaintiffs, including survivors of the camp from Poland and Israel, are represented by 14 lawyers. The defendant has a public defender.
According to the central office in Ludwigsburg responsible for investigating Nazi crimes, around 65,000 people died in the Stutthof concentration camp and its sub-camps as well as on the so-called death marches at the end of the war.
On the first day of the trial, the 96-year-old left her home in Quickborn (Pinneberg district) a few hours before the start of the trial and took a taxi to Norderstedt / Hamburg-Ochsenzoll. According to media information, she was walking in Hamburg at noon when police officers noticed her.
The trial against Irmgard F. takes place before a youth chamber because the defendant was only 18 or 19 years old at the time of the crime. The trial is considered to be one of the last Nazi trials in Germany. Since October 7th, however, proceedings have been running before the Neuruppin district court in Brandenburg / Havel. The 100-year-old defendant is accused of assisting the murder of several thousand people as an SS guard in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin between 1942 and 1945. The accused, who grew up in Lithuania, denies the allegations. dpa
