One of the senior members of the International Auschwitz Committee – a group founded by survivors of the death camp – lashed out at the German justice system last week over the way it deals with Nazi criminals.
Christoph Heubner, vice-president of the International Auschwitz Committee, reacted to the recent charges filed against Nazi culprits, including a 100-year-old German who was an alleged accessory to the murder of 3,518 people.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
"This case is an important example to very elderly survivors of German concentration and extermination camps. Justice has no expiration date and the pursuit of SS perpetrators must not end, even in old age."
The counts against the man cite "material and intentional" help to the murder of Jews and other groups at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp between 1942 and 1945, when he worked as a guard. Similar charges were filed recently against a 95-year-old woman who worked at the Stutthof concentration camp and who allegedly took part in the killing of tens of thousands of people.
"The knowledge that so many criminals who served in the death camps have been able to live freely without being held accountable to German courts has been a source of constant pain for survivors," he continued. "The fact that only now such criminals are being prosecuted underscores a decades-long failure on the part of the German justice system."
For the survivors, this is not about revenge, but having justice served. That's why such trials are important despite the old age of the victims and survivors, as well as of the criminals."
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
