Germany's oldest accused of Nazi crimes claims he is "innocent"

The oldest accused of Nazi crimes, a centenarian former concentration camp guard, said Friday, October 8, "to

" of the facts with which he is accused, on the second day of his trial in Germany.

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“

” said Josef Schütz, 100, adding that he was “

” as he was questioned about his WWII activities at the camp. concentration of Sachsenhausen, located not far from Berlin. "

" in my head, he declared, while complaining of being "

", in the box of the defendants of the court of Brandenburg an der Havel where he must appear until the beginning of January. He was quickly interrupted by his own lawyer, Stefan Waterkamp: the day before, at the opening of the trial, the latter had warned that his client would not speak on the period of the facts with which he was accused. "

”protested the lawyer.

Josef Schütz, former non-commissioned officer of the "

" (Skull) division of the Waffen-SS, is prosecuted for "

" of 3,518 prisoners when he was operating in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, between 1942 and 1945 The second audience was devoted to his biography, and in particular his life before and after the war.

Arrived alone, moving with a walker but with a relatively confident gait, Josef Schütz recounted in detail certain aspects of his past existence, in particular his work on the family farm in Lithuania with his seven siblings, then his enlistment in the army in 1938. After the war, he was transferred to a prison camp in Russia and then settled in Germany, in Brandenburg, a region neighboring Berlin. He worked successively as a peasant and then as a locksmith. On several occasions, the accused recounted precisely the birthdays spent with his daughters and grandchildren, or how much his wife admired him. "

" he said.

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Twenty hearings, limited to two hours due to his age, are still scheduled until early January