91-Year-Old Woman Charged for Auschwitz Murders

A 91-year-old woman who worked as a telegraph operator in Auschwitz has been accused of complicity in the murders of at least 260,000 Jews.

She was charged as an accessory because she helped Auschwitz function.

Earlier this year, a 94-year-old man – known as the “bookkeeper of Auschwitz” – was jailed under similar circumstances.

If the case goes to trial, the woman will be prosecuted in a court for minors because she was under 21 at the time she allegedly committed the crimes.

This isn’t the first instance of prosecutions of those not directly involved in the era’s violence.

Former SS member Oskar Groening was sent to prison for four years over the murder of 300,000 people at the death camp.

German courts are also waiting for medical clearance before trying 93-year-old former Auschwitz guard Reinhold Hanning on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder.

According to 2013 data from Operation: Last Chance, an organization that pays money for information leading to the arrest of Nazi war criminals, there were 1,005 active investigations of alleged war criminals in Poland and Germany. If ever she is declared medically able, she would be tried at a court in Kiel.