In reversal, German court says 100-year-old Nazi guard may go on trial
Gregor Formanek initially found unfit to face charges of aiding and abetting 3,322 murders at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, but judge rules decision based on flawed expertise
German authorities are pressing for a 100-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard to face trial almost 80 years since the end of World War II.
The higher regional court in Frankfurt on Tuesday said it had overturned a decision by a lower court under which the suspect had been deemed unfit to stand trial.
The suspect, named as Gregor Formanek by German media, was charged last year with aiding and abetting murder in 3,322 cases while working at the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin between July 1943 and February 1945.
However, an expert determined in February that Formanek was not fit to stand trial due to his mental and physical condition and the court in Hanau, Hesse state, eventually decided not to open the proceedings against him.
The Frankfurt court on Tuesday found the expert’s decision had not been based on “sufficient facts.”
“The expert himself stated that it was not possible to interview the defendant and that the opportunity for extensive psychiatric testing was not available,” it said.
Justice comes for the 100-year-old Nazi: Bombshell court ruling for former SS guard who hoped to dodge charges of helping to kill thousands of WWII prisoners
Gregor Formanek, 100, is accused of helping to murder 3,322 people at the notorious WW2 prison Sachsenhausen while… pic.twitter.com/znHaeKF9vd
— Trisha Posner (@trishaposner) December 3, 2024
Germany has been scrambling to bring the last surviving former Nazi war criminals to justice since a 2011 landmark ruling paved the way for several trials.
One former death camp guard, John Demjanjuk, was convicted on the basis that he served as part of Hitler’s killing machine, even though there was no direct proof of him committing murder.
Since then, several former concentration camp workers have been found guilty of being accessories to murder on the same basis.
However, with time running out, many cases have been abandoned in recent years after the accused died or was physically unable to stand trial.
More than 200,000 people, including Jews, Roma, regime opponents and gay people, were detained at the Sachsenhausen camp between 1936 and 1945.
Tens of thousands died there from forced labor, murder, medical experiments, hunger or disease before the camp was liberated by Soviet troops.
