Woman, 91, Charged for Auschwitz Crimes

A woman aged 91 has been charged over the murders of 260,000 innocent Jews in Nazi death camp Auschwitz.

The elderly woman, who has not been publicly identified, reportedly was a radio operator for the Auschwitz camp commandant in 1944 between April and July, Schleswig-Holstein prosecutors’ spokesman Heinz Doellel said Monday, according to the AP.

However, in 2011 in a landmark ruling, a court in Munich sentenced a SS voluntary assistant Ivan Demjanjuk, to five years in prison after he was found guilty of complicity in some 30,000 Jewish deaths in German-occupied Poland during World War II.

However, the courts are likely to decide only next year whether to proceed with the case or not, Sky News said.

Known as the “Bookkeeper of Auschwitz”, his case was expected to be one of the last Holocaust trials. Prosecutors argued Oskar Groenig’s presence when Jews entered the camp created a threatening impression, the BBC says.

In 2005 Groening admitted in a BBC documentary that he had been present on the ramp when selections for the gas chambers took place.

The former SS member was in charge of confiscating prisoners’ luggage upon entry and deceiving them by saying their belongings would be returned. Should the judgement come into force, an assessment will be made as to whether Groening is in a fit state to be jailed.