Trial underway in Germany for SS medic who served at Auschwitz

Hubert Zafke, 95, charged with 3,681 counts of accessory to murder for allegedly helping death camp to function

By AP 12 September 2016, 4:33 pm
Former SS medic Hubert Zafke, 95, accused of aiding in 3,681 murders in Auschwitz in 1944, attends his trial on September 12, 2016 at the court in Neubrandenburg, Germany. (AFP/dpa/Bernd Wüstneck)

BERLIN — A former SS medic who served at the Auschwitz death camp has gone on trial in the northern German city of Neubrandenburg, although questions remain about whether the 95-year-old is fit enough for the proceedings to continue.

The trial of Hubert Zafke, scheduled to start in February, already has been postponed three times after presiding Judge Klaus Kabisch determined Zafke wasn’t well enough to participate based on a doctor’s assessment.

On Monday, Zafke was pushed into Neubrandenburg state court in a wheelchair, holding a wooden cane in his hand. The dpa news agency reports he made no comment after the charges against him were read.

Zafke is charged with 3,681 counts of accessory to murder for allegedly helping the Nazi camp function. His attorney says he did nothing criminal.

This photo, taken just after the liberation by the Soviet army in January, 1945, shows a group of children behind barbed wire fencing in the Oswiecim (Auschwitz) Nazi concentration camp. (AP Photo)

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.

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