West Germany: The Last Trial?

Old crimes, old criminals

The spectators' gallery of a Düsseldorf courtroom erupted with shouts of "Scandal!" and "An offense against the victims!" as the sentences were read out last week to the defendants, seven men and two women, all age 60 or older. One got a life sentence; another was acquitted; the rest received jail terms ranging from three to twelve years. Thus ended the longest (5½ years), and probably the last, major West German trial for Nazi war crimes against concentration camp inmates. The nine were all guards at the Maidanek concentration camp in Poland between 1941 and 1944....

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