Josef Schuetz was convicted of his role in the murders of 3,518 prisoners at the Sachsenhausen camp in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, between 1942 and 1945. The retiree, who now lives in the state of Brandenburg, has maintained his innocence, saying he did “absolutely nothing” and was unaware of the horrific crimes being committed in the camp. “I do not know why I am here,” he said at the end of his trial on Monday. However, prosecutors said he “knowingly and willingly” participated in the crimes as a guard at the camp and successfully pushed for a five-year sentence. More than 200,000 people, including Jews, Roma, regime opponents and homosexuals, were held in the Sachsenhausen camp between 1936 and 1945.
Schuetz “assisted and motivated” executions with an executive extract
Tens of thousands of detainees died from forced labor, murder, medical experiments, starvation or disease before the camp was liberated from Soviet troops, according to the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum. The charges against Schuetz include aiding and abetting the “execution by firing squad of Soviet prisoners of war in 1942” and the killing of prisoners “using the poison gas Zyklon B”.
