The trial of the "accountant of Auschwitz" Groening began in Germany

Angelina Timofeeva. The trial of Oscar gr?ning - 93-year-old former member of the SS and employee administration one of the worst death camps in the history of the world war II Auschwitz-Birkenau began Tuesday in the German city of l?neburg.

The prosecution focused on the so-called Hungarian shares in Auschwitz in summer 1944, when camping in profit than 137 trains From Hungarian Jews and other prisoners from 425 thousand people, About 300 thousand were immediately destroyed - gassed and burned in the camp ovens. A former SS man accused of involvement in the killings of 300 thousand people. His lawyer said that Groening is going to speak at the trial.

Auschwitz-Birkenau complex of German concentration camps and the death camps, which were located in the years 1940-1945 in Poland near the town of Auschwitz, 60 kilometers West of Krakow. About 1, 4 million people, of which About 1, 1 million were Jews were killed in Auschwitz in 1941-1945. Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest and most long-lived Nazi camp of destruction, for this reason It has become one of the main symbols of the Holocaust. Camping was liberated on 27 January 1945 by Soviet troops. This day was established by the UN as international day of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust.

by his own admission, published in the media, Groening was engaged in the registration and posting of currency, which was taken from prisoners upon arrival at the campsite. He was present at the camp reception center at the time of arrival of new prisoners, although not involved in sorting, the so - called selection, the process that determined who will be immediately sent to the gas chamber, and who will go to work in a concentration camp.

during the charges involving About 50 former prisoners and their relatives. They arrived at the weekend in Luneberg from different countries. According to attorney Thomas Walther, who represents the desires of the 31 injured, these people danger come from supporters of far-right thoughts in Germany.

Former prisoners held a press conference yesterday process, which urged the German justice to make a fair decision and punish Groening. Most of them told that they do not feel to the former accountant of personal animosity, however, believe that the iniquity committed in the concentration camp, were too big to leave Groening without judgment.

for a long time the official position of the German justice system was that it was pursuing only those personnel of concentration camps, who participated specifically in the killings of prisoners. For this reason, 6, 5, thousands of SS members from Auschwitz, survived in the war in Germany were prosecuted 29 people in the GDR - 30 people.

Since 2011, the position of justice has changed is a Former citizen of the USA and the USSR, the Ukrainian-born Ivan Demjanjuk, who was a member of the SS and served as a guard at the Sobibor concentration camp, was found guilty in aiding and abetting the deprivation of life in 27900 cases and sentenced to five years in prison.

Center on disclosing of crimes of the Nazis in German Ludwigsburg acknowledged that, based on the Demjanjuk precedent, one proven fact of service in the administration of the concentration camp is enough to declare a person guilty of involvement in mass murder.

in the case of Demjanjuk, the Prosecution had only His certificate of a member of the SS and the order of service in Sobibor, as well as one of the witnesses at the trial identified the former security guard.

Case Groening and not more than one hundred people was considered by the Prosecutor's office of Frankfurt am main in 1985, but it was closed due To a lack of evidence of belonging to the murders. A new Case was filed in l?neburg in 2014. The venue of the process chosen in the place of residence Groening.

If Groening's found guilty, he faces three years in prison. An unprecedented number of victims will not be taken into account in the sentence. In addition, the defendant will have the opportunity to appeal the decision in higher courts, and similarly in the European court of human rights.


sections: Politics