A 96-year-old German woman has gone on trial in Germany for crimes allegedly committed during the Second World War.
Irmgard Furchner is accused of participating in the murder of 11,412 people as a result of her work in the Stutthof concentration camp between 1943 and 1945.
Stutthof concentration camp was based in Poland near the city of Gdansk during the Nazi occupation of the country. Around 65,000 people died in the camp, either from starvation, shooting, hanging, or being put in the gas chambers. Jews and Soviet prisoners of war made up the vast majority of the casualties.
The nonagenarian sat in the dock with her face covered by a mask and her head covered with a scarf. She had been forced to attend court after being apprehended whilst attempting to go on the run a few weeks ago. Her escape however did not last long, and she was apprehended by German authorities a few hours later.
Bizarrely, Furchner is appearing in a juvenile court as she was only 18 at the time of her stationing in Stutthof.
German and international authorities know that almost everyone who committed war crimes during the Second World War will soon be dead and many see this as the last chance to get justice. It has led to several charges being recently brought against a series of former Nazis.
Just two weeks ago, a 100-year-old man was brought to trial in the German town of Brandenburg an der Havel. A former SS member, he is accused of murdering thousands of people at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Due to German privacy laws, he has not been named.
Until the 2000s, lower levels of the Nazi regime were not brought to trial over their alleged crimes, with the focus instead being upon higher-ranking Nazis. The most famous of these trials was against the Nazi leadership, which took place in Nuremberg shortly after the war. Most found guilty were executed by hanging or sentenced to long prison terms. Many more committed suicide whilst in custody.
After the war, many of the worst war criminals went into hiding, often in South America. While many were tracked down and brought to justice, many were never seen again, and some are even reported to still be alive.
[Based on reporting by: Reuters]
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