Prosecutors in Germany have indicted a former Wehrmacht soldier who manned watchtowers in a prisoner of war camp in what could be the start of a new series of prosecutions for Nazi war crimes. Until now the focus has been on concentration and death camps.
The Berlin state prosecutor’s office charged the 98-year-old Berlin man with complicity in the murder of Soviet prisoners at the “Stalag 365” prisoner of war camp in the city of Volodymyr-Volynskyy in what is now western Ukraine.
The accused was deployed at the camp from November 1942 until March 1943. According to the indictment, at least 809 prisoners died of malnutrition, disease, exposure, forced labour and a lack of medical attention during his time there, a Berlin criminal courts spokesman told The Times.
“He is accused of being aware of the deprivation and the starvation of prisoners of war and having thereby made himself culpable,” she said. “It’s different from the other cases because they always dealt with concentration camps.”
The prosecution has cited “cruelty”, a criterion for murder under German law, in its indictment. As the guard was 19 at the time, the case was sent to a criminal court in Berlin. The court has asked the prosecution to provide further information and it is not clear yet whether it will come to trial.
Read the article by David Crossland in The Australian.