A 95-year-old German must stand trial for charges that he assisted in the murder of at least 3,681 people at Auschwitz-Birkenau during World War II, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
The court in the northern German city of Rostock decided that Hubert Z. is fit to stand trial, noting that the defendant can be given regular breaks during the hearing, and that medical aid will be on hand.
The defendant was a sergeant in the Nazi SS, which ran the death camps, and served as at Auschwitz from October 1943 to January 1944. According to the indictment, he acted as one of the camp’s paramedics from 15 August to 14 September 1944.
During that month, at least 14 deportation trains reached the extermination site from as far as Rhodes in Greece, Lyon in France, Vienna in Austria, and Westerbork in the Netherlands, the prosecution says.
Although Z. is not accused of having been directly involved in any killings, the prosecution’s office says he was aware of the camp’s function and by joining its organizational structure consciously participated and accelerated the deaths of thousands of people.
Over 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were murdered at Auschwitz. It was the Nazis' biggest death camp.
