Oskar Groening Declared Fit For Trial-

"A former Auschwitz guard has been deemed fit to stand trial for his role as an accomplice to mass murder at the extermination camp where the Nazis put 1.1 million people to death during the Second World War.
As a S.S. sergeant, Oskar Groening was responsible for guarding the possessions of the doomed arrivals as they stepped off the trains bringing them to the camp in occupied Poland.
He was never punished after the war for his service in Auschwitz - and claims he committed no crimes at the complex.
But now aged 92, prosecutors in Hanover, Germany, have closed their preliminary investigation against him and have judged him fit to stand trial, according to German media.
Groening is one of three men being investigated, but it is understood that two other elderly guards from the state of Lower Saxony are too frail to go on trial.
'The examination of the health status and the ability to negotiate a trial of the three accused is largely completed,' said senior state prosecutor, Thomas Klinge.
Groening worked in the Auschwitz for more than two-and-a-half years, and has lived a comfortable life ever since near the Lueneburg Heath in Lower Saxony.
Ironically, the Lueneburg Heath is the place where S.S. chief Heinrich Himmler was buried in an unmarked grave after committing suicide when he fell into British hands at the end of the war.
Now, Groening has appointed a lawyer who has received notification that the authorities are proceeding against him, according to popular daily newspaper BILD. [SIZE=1.2em]The former guard has previously spoken at trials after the war of the operations of the gas chambers and crematoria, but has denied any involvement.[/SIZE]
In 1948, a tribunal cleared him of war crimes and he began working as the manager of a glass factory."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2580101/Former-Auschwitz-guard-Oskar-Groening-deemed-fit-stand-trial-mass-murder-admits-I-hear-cries-dead-dreams-waking-moment.html#ixzz2vtnrJIyV

 

*bumped* for an update-
"A 93-year-old man has been charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder for his role as an SS guard at Auschwitz concentration camp, prosecutors said today.
A sergeant, Oskar Groening worked at the camp in German occupied Poland for two and a half years.
Groening was charged with sorting the possessions of the inmates and collecting and tallying any money that was on them.

At least 1.1 million prisoners died at Auschwitz, around 90 per cent of them Jewish. In one period between May and June 1944, 425,000 Hungarian Jews went there and around 300,000 were immediately sent to the gas chambers.

Hanoverian prosecutors said of Groening: "He helped the Nazi regime benefit economically, and supported the systematic killings."
Groening's lawyer, Hans Holtermann, refused to comment on the charges.

He was never punished after the war, a TRIBUNAL cleared him of involvement in 1948, but Groening who worked as the manager of a glass factory has openly talked about his time as a guard and said that he witnessed atrocities."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2756765/Former-Auschwitz-guard-93-charged-300-000-counts-accessory-murder-role-Nazi-death-camp.html#ixzz3DQtfUPgP

 

Historian, the name Groening, (pronounced 'graining') is not excatly one that I've seen much.

In fact, the only other example I've seen of it is Matt Groening, creator of "The Simpsons".

Wonder if theres a family connection there of some kind. Probably not. But it would be facinating if it were so!

 

Can't pretend to be an expert on European names, unfortunately lol.

 

*bump* for an update-
"Authorities have confirmed that a former S.S. guard charged in September with participating in the mass murder of 300,000 people at the Auschwitz concentration camp during WW2 is fit to stand trial for his crimes.
Oskar Groening, 93, will go into the dock in the spring of next year, the only one of a 'dirty dozen' former camp personnel identified and charged over participation in the Holocaust in the past two years who will actually answer for his crimes.
The others were told that their cases were being dropped because of age, infirmity or lack of clear evidence.
The court in the northern city of Lueneburg did not identify the accused who will be tried on charges of being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 people.
But it is known to be Groening who was employed at the Nazi concentration camp in occupied Poland where an estimated 1.2 million people were liquidated between September 1942 and October 1944.
Prosecutors from Hanover are charged with preparing the indictment against Groening, who was in charge of counting, collating and shipping back to the Reich the money and possessions of those murdered in the gas chambers of Hitler's premier extermination camp.
The charges relate to a two-month period between May and July 1944, when an estimated 137 trains arrived at the camp carrying 425,000 people, mostly from Hungary. At least 300,000 of them were murdered immediately."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2876331/Former-Auschwitz-SS-guard-aged-93-fit-stand-trial-crimes.html#ixzz3M7AoGpmI

 

*bump* for an update
"An SS sergeant known as 'the bookkeeper of Auschwitz' is set to go on trial charged with complicity in the killing of 300,000 Jews at the Nazi extermination camp.
Auschwitz survivors and the relatives of those murdered there filed into court today for the trial of 93-year-old Oskar Groening - who may well have met their loved ones shortly before they were gassed.
They spoke of their pain, pride and duty in confronting this 'cog' in the machinery of genocide.
Groening, known as 'The Bookkeeper' for his role in the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, was tasked with meeting the trains bringing victims there and robbing those aboard of their possessions."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3047655/SS-sergeant-known-bookkeeper-Auschwitz-goes-trial-300-000-counts-accessory-murder-victims-relatives-gather-court-start-case.html#ixzz3Xtxw3nOw

 

I would have have hard time believing the memory of witnesses considering their age....however, if there is documentation on his role there, that would be different....but how do they know exactly what he did there without witnesses?...

 

His presence there as part of the organization is enough for conviction under the new rules.

 

Also, there are countless eyewitness statements, archives and overwhelming circumstantial evidence that should suffice. They can't hide behind "I wasn't directly involved" garbage anymore.

 

Just coming across the wires:
Auschwitz guard trial: Oskar Groening admits 'moral guilt'
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32392594

 

He gets assigned to a Waffen SS unit in the fall of 44 and takes part in the fighting in the Ardennes. Which SS Division? Does anybody know?

 

Addressing the judges, Mr Groening also said: "I ask for forgiveness. I share morally in the guilt but whether I am guilty under criminal law, you will have to decide.''

So, you witnessed the murder of thousands of innocents, yet do not feel like a criminal. Once an ardent Nazi, always an ardent Nazi.

 

I don't see an "ardent Nazi" admitting moral guilt.

 

It shouldn't really matter that he is no longer an "ardent Nazi." He participated in the crimes. How he felt about it afterward is not a defense.

 

Possibly, but my point being if he has "denazified" himself, per say, he would just bite the bullet and say, especially at his age, "I was a member of criminal organization." His response is a classic cop out. Years of diluting himself into believing that he was not a part of the Nazi machine.

 

*bump* for an update-
"The moment the Bookkeeper of Auschwitz was made to pay for murdering 300,000 Jews: Oskar Groening, 94, grimaces as German court jails the former Nazi guard for four years "
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3161043/71-years-helped-Nazis-kill-300-000-Jews-bookkeeper-Auschwitz-finally-faces-justice-German-court-delivers-verdict-om-Oskar-Groening-morning.html

 

I guess it's some justice. Not enough. I hope the appeal process is quick and he can enjoy the rest of his days staring at iron bars.

 

I've been following this a little bit and I am always thinking why it took so long for this to happen. So many people who were responsible for causing others misery and death always managed to evade justice. For example, there was a commandant of one of the Kaufering concentration camps that managed to evade justice and he died without seeing it. That's just one example, there are countless others who evaded justice. It always irritates me when trials like this are happening now and didn't happen sooner.

 

There were a bunch in the years following the war, but as the years have passed less and less eyewitness accounts were available. And even then, it seems as though the authorities were mostly concerned with the monsters who had a direct hand (which is ridiculous). The silver lining, if there can be one, is that they are still investigating and going after them.