A 93-year-old former Nazi guard was charged Monday with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder for duties performed during the Holocaust 70 years ago, the Associated Press reported.
Oskar Groening allegedly helped the Nazis run the infamous Auschwitz death camp in Poland from May to June 1944. Prosecutors said he was tasked with gathering and keeping track of personal items taken from the victims, including money which was tallied and given to the regime.
"He helped the Nazi regime benefit economically, and supported the systematic killings," prosecutors said in the German city of Hannover, where several other cases have been pursued against former Auschwitz guards.
An estimated 425,000 Jews were brought from Hungary to the death camp in 1944, most of whom were immediately put to death, according to the AP.
The case against Groening was brought by 20 surviving Auschwitz victims and their families who feel it's their last chance "to participate in bringing justice to one of the SS men who had a part in the murder of their closest relatives," Thomas Walther, their attorney, told the AP.
Groening, of east Hannover, said that while he admits to being a guard at the camp, he did not partake in any crimes. He has spoken previously about the horrors he witnessed at Auschwitz, including one night during "ramp duty" when he heard a baby crying, according to an interview with Der Spiegel magazine.
"I saw another SS soldier grab the baby by the legs..." he told the magazine in 2005. "He smashed the baby's head against the iron side of a truck until it was silent."
Hans Holtermann, Groening's lawyer, declined to give the AP a comment.
Under German law, prosecutors are allowed to pursue charges against those suspected of being death camp guards. At least 30 former guards, including Groening, were recommended for prosecution last year, the AP reported.
Three other cases were pursued in Hannover, but one suspect has since died and the other two were not prosecuted because they were deemed unfit for trial.
