World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald S. Lauder welcomed today’s verdict by a court in Lüneburg, Germany which sentenced the Oskar Gröning to four years in prison for his complicity in the murder of 300,000 Hungarian Jews in Auschwitz in 1944.
Lauder said: “Albeit belatedly, justice has been done. Mr. Gröning was only a small cog in the Nazis’ death machine, but without the actions of people like him, the mass murder of millions of Jews and others would not have been possible. It was the right decision to put him on trial despite his old age, and it was right that he was handed a jail sentence. He may have to spend the final years in confinement, but that is a small punishment for the unspeakable crimes he aided to commit.
Lauder added: “There must never be impunity or closure for those who were involved in mass murder and genocide, irrespective of their age, and we commend Germany for holding this trial. We urge authorities there – and in other European countries – not to relent in the quest for bringing the perpetrators of the biggest crime in the history of mankind to justice.”
Gröning, 94, has been dubbed the "bookkeeper of Auschwitz” for his role in collecting luggage and seizing cash and valuables from incoming Hungarian Jews between May and July of 1944. Gröning was trained bankteller before joining the SS.
The sentence handed to him by the court exceeded the three and a half years that state prosecutors had requested. Gröning’s lawyers had sought an acquittal.
“It doesn’t matter to me if Oskar Gröning got two, three or four years in prison. What matters to me is that this trial was held, and that he got convicted for his crimes. The morale of this story is: No matter how old you are, you will have to face justice. Oskar Gröning lived happily for 94 years – the six million Jews murdered in Auschwitz and other death camps did not live.
Survivor reaction
Angela Orosz-Richt from Montreal, Canada, a survivor who was born in Auschwitz in 1944 and who testified at the Gröning trial in Lüneburg last month, said in reaction to the verdict: “I thank Germany for eventually putting him on trial, although that should have happened decades ago, and although many other perpetrators never had to stand trial for their crimes. I hope this important trial has also helped to educate today’s generation about what really happened and to combat anti-Semitism.”
