Irmgard Furchner, 99, was found guilty in 2022 of being an accessory to killings at Stutthof concentration camp
A German court has rejected an appeal by a 99-year-old woman who was convicted of being an accessory to more than 10,500 murders during her role as a secretary to the SS commander of the Nazis’ Stutthof concentration camp during the second world war.
The federal court of justice upheld the conviction of Irmgard Furchner, who was given a two-year suspended sentence in December 2022 by a state court in Itzehoe, northern Germany.
She was accused of being part of the apparatus that helped the camp near Danzig, now the Polish city of Gdansk, function. She was convicted of being an accessory to murder in 10,505 cases and an accessory to attempted murder in five cases.
What I find odd is why wait so long? She is 99. Is this justice for anyone at this point? In the news, several people in their 90s were charged with crimes during WW2. It just seems oddly late, as you said, performative.
It all takes a while.
Short version: a couple decades ago they decided that it’s too hard to impossible to find solid evidence against “small cogs” in the system. But that changed a couple years ago and now they are digging up cases where they can solidly proof that they were (in)directly involved in murdering the people.
And murder doesn’t have statute of limitation. same with assistance to murder.
The case against her was already started in 2022 and she was found guilty. But they appealed. This appeal was now rejected by the courts.
And as she’s quite old, it doesn’t make much sense to stick her in jail. Also, as she was only 18-19 when it happened, they ruled it accordingly under milder youth-law.
The main reason is: it’s bad if the state doesn’t follow through with murder cases. Even if it’s 80 years later
German FAQ from the case 2 years ago