Nazi guard, 96, fit to serve four-year prison term, court rules

Logo - The Week

Oskar Groening, dubbed the Bookkeeper of Auschwitz, had appealed to have sentence suspended on health grounds

A German court has ruled that a 96-year-old former Nazi SS guard known as the “Bookkeeper of Auschwitz” is fit enough to serve his four-year prison sentence.

Oskar Groening’s case is one of the last major Holocaust trials, the Daily Express says.

Groening was convicted in July 2015 on “300,000 counts of accessory to murder” at the infamous Auschwitz death camp in southern Poland, AFP reports, but has been living at home after filing an appeal for the sentence to be suspended because of health concerns.

A court in Celle, northern Germany, ruled yesterday that Groening’s rights would not be breached by imprisoning him and that any special needs could be met in prison.

Prior to the ruling, author and historian Andrew Nagorski told Newsweek that “it would be a breakthrough if he actually spent a little time in prison. [It would reinforce] the notion that no one is beyond the law, that there is a price to pay no matter how long you live.”