97-year-old woman found guilty of assisting in murder of 10,505 people at Stutthof concentration camp

Irmgard Furchner, a former Nazi Secretary, has been found guilty of assisting in the murder of around 10,505 people. The 97-year-old former secretary to an SS commander worked at the Stutthof concentration camp in Poland, where thousands of Jews were killed. She was 18 years old at the time of the crime, and therefore, she is being tried as a juvenile. This might be the last trial in the Nazi war crimes.

On Tuesday, Judge Dominik Gross delivered the verdict where he found her guilty of being an accessory in the murder of around 10,505 people. She was also found guilty in 5 attempted murder cases at the Stutthof concentration camp. She is given a two-year suspended sentence. Her trial started in October last year.

Irmgard Furchner issued an apology but did not plead guilty to the crimes. She said, "I am sorry for everything that happened. I regret that I was in Stutthof at that time. That's all, I can say."




She was a typist at the Stutthof concentration camp from 1942 to 1944. She said that she had no information about the happenings at the camp. Her lawyer told the court, "My client worked among SS men, who were experienced in violence, however, does that mean she shared their state of knowledge? That is not necessarily obvious".
However, the prosecution refuted these claims saying that it was impossible for her not to know about the killings as her office overlooked the camp and her job was to type the death warrants. He said, "She aided and abetted those in-charge of the camp in the systematic killing of those imprisoned there between June 1943 and April 1945 in her function as a stenographer and typist in the camp commandant's office".

The Stutthof concentration camp is infamous for the murders of Jews by the Nazis during the second world war. According to an estimate, about 100,000 people were sent to this concentration camp of which approximately 650,00 people died in gas chambers or of disease and starvation.

FAQs:

1. How many Jews were killed in the Holocaust?
   Approximately 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust.
2. How many Nazis were tried in the Nuremberg Trial?
   199 Nazis were tried in the Nuremberg Trial. These trials happened between November 1945 and October 1946.