German Nazi hunters have made an arrest of three alleged Nazi guards who are between the ages of 88 to 94. Earlier this week, 69 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, the men were arrested after police raided a private home.
In 1969, a federal court in Germany ruled that in order to prosecute a case, the burden of proof would be on the prosecutors to show the guilt of each individual having worked at a death camp during a specific incident. However, in 2011, the conviction of John Demjanjuk changed that precedent. He was charged and found guilty of killing nearly 30,000 people.
Police raided a house in Germany earlier this week and were able to seize many Nazi era papers. Six men had previously been living in the house. The Nazi hunters made the much-anticipated arrest after finding evidence of the crimes on numerous documents.
In the case of these modern day Nazi hunters making the arrest, the three men suspected of the crimes are said to have worked at Auschwitz, which was the largest Nazi death camp in Poland. One of the men said that while he did work at Auschwitz, he did not kill anyone himself.
Some law enforcement officials who have been working on the case were pleased with the arrest and said that the men’s ages should not be a factor in the way the law will be carried out. He said that they should not be pitied because the men “showed no mercy” toward the people who suffered at their hands.
The three men are currently being held in a hospital affiliated with the prison. German Nazi hunters continue to investigate numerous other cases which they expect they will be able to bring to fruition in the coming weeks and months. They anticipate the arrest of other Nazi spies and guards.
By: Dave Schwartz
