Germany’s Federal Court has upheld a lower court’s verdict in the case of 99-year-old Irmgard Furchner, the former secretary to the commandant of the Nazi concentration camp Stutthoff in occupied Poland.
Two years ago, she was found guilty of assisting in the murder of 10,500 people executed at Stutthoff, including Jews, Soviet prisoners of war, and Poles. In all, more than 60,000 people died there during the camp’s existence.
Because Furchner was under 21 when the crimes were committed, her case was tried in juvenile court. Due to her advanced age, prosecutors agreed to issue a suspended sentence.
“The principle that ordinary, everyday actions cannot be classified as crimes does not apply in this case: the defendant knew what the main perpetrators were doing and assisted them in this,” the verdict says.
The initial trial lasted more than a year. Furchner tried to escape from a nursing home, but was found and taken into custody. Most of the witnesses heard by the court did not live to see the verdict. Irmgard remained silent throughout most of the trial, but broke it off to apologize for her actions.
Almost 80 years have passed since the end of World War II. Experts noted that Furchner would likely be the last person to be convicted of the crimes of the Nazi regime in her lifetime.