Trial of former Auschwitz SS medic begins in Germany

The trial of a former Nazi concentration camp SS medic began on Monday at a provincial court in Germany.

The 95-year-old Hubert Z. was allegedly accused of complicity in the murders of at least 3,681 persons at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where he served as a medic for one month in 1944.

The prosecutor claimed that the defendant was aware that it was an extermination camp and his activities there contributed to its operation, Efe news reported.

He also said it was not necessary for Hubert to have been directly involved in the murders to be prosecuted.

The defence lawyer argued that during the stay of the accused at Auschwitz he was tending to other SS members and soldiers.

Hubert, originally from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in northeastern Germany, was a medic at Auschwitz in Poland between August 15 and September 14, 1944.

It was a period during which 14 trains with at least 3,681 persons on board arrived at the camp. The newcomers were killed in the gas chambers there.

The trial was postponed three times over health concerns of Hubert.

In June, a 94-year-old former SS guard, Reinhold Hanning, was sentenced to five years in prison for complicity in the deaths of 1,70,000 Auschwitz prisoners between January 1943 and June 1944.

--IANS

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