ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—A former SS sergeant has admitted in a German court that he served as a guard at Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp.
Reinhold Hanning, 94, told the court that he knew Jews were being gassed in the camp and that he did nothing to stop it.
Hanning admitted serving at Auschwitz from January 1942 to June 1944 but had never spoken about his time at the concentration camp prior to his trial, not even to his family.
Wheelchair-bound Hanning is charged with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder for the more than two years he worked as a guard at Auschwitz.
He said he wanted to take the opportunity of his trial to tell the truth and apologize.
"I deeply regret having been part of a criminal organization responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people and destruction of countless families," he said to a courtroom filled with Holocaust survivors.
"I am ashamed that I saw injustice and never did anything about it and I apologize for my actions. I am very, very sorry."
“People were shot, gassed and burned. I could see how corpses were taken back and forth or moved out,” he detailed. “I could smell the burning bodies; I knew corpses were being burned."
Some 40 Holocaust survivors are participating in the trial as plaintiffs. Leon Schwarzbaum, 95, survived Auschwitz. "I lost 35 family members, how can you apologize for that?" he said.
"I am not angry, I don't want him to go to prison but he should say more for the sake of the young generation today because the historical truth is important."
Hanning’s lawyer, Johannes Salmen, read a lengthy statement explaining how Hanning had joined the Hitler Youth when he was 13. He was sent to Auschwitz after being wounded near Kiev, Ukraine and no longer able to fight on the frontlines.
Hanning could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted, though, given his years, it is unlikely he will spend time in jail.
More than 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, were killed at the concentration camp in Poland.
Reinhold Hanning, 94, told the court that he knew Jews were being gassed in the camp and that he did nothing to stop it.
Hanning admitted serving at Auschwitz from January 1942 to June 1944 but had never spoken about his time at the concentration camp prior to his trial, not even to his family.
Wheelchair-bound Hanning is charged with 170,000 counts of accessory to murder for the more than two years he worked as a guard at Auschwitz.
He said he wanted to take the opportunity of his trial to tell the truth and apologize.
"I deeply regret having been part of a criminal organization responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people and destruction of countless families," he said to a courtroom filled with Holocaust survivors.
"I am ashamed that I saw injustice and never did anything about it and I apologize for my actions. I am very, very sorry."
“People were shot, gassed and burned. I could see how corpses were taken back and forth or moved out,” he detailed. “I could smell the burning bodies; I knew corpses were being burned."
Some 40 Holocaust survivors are participating in the trial as plaintiffs. Leon Schwarzbaum, 95, survived Auschwitz. "I lost 35 family members, how can you apologize for that?" he said.
"I am not angry, I don't want him to go to prison but he should say more for the sake of the young generation today because the historical truth is important."
Hanning’s lawyer, Johannes Salmen, read a lengthy statement explaining how Hanning had joined the Hitler Youth when he was 13. He was sent to Auschwitz after being wounded near Kiev, Ukraine and no longer able to fight on the frontlines.
Hanning could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted, though, given his years, it is unlikely he will spend time in jail.
More than 1.1 million people, mainly Jews, were killed at the concentration camp in Poland.
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