Auschwitz Guards Investigation: Charges Recommended Against Dozens Of Alleged Nazis, But "The Biggest Enemy Is Time"

Auschwitz guards are being investigated by German prosecutors.  There may be new trials against dozens of former Auschwitz guards-almost seventy years after WWII is over.

The Auschwitz guard investigation comes from the the special prosecutor's office that investigates Nazi war crimes. They are recommending charges against dozens of Nazi guards.

The charges are recommended after an investigation of 49 suspects who were guards at Auschwitz.

Prosecutors are recommending state charges against thirty people who were allegedly stationed at the death camp. The investigation uncovered enough evidence that they will all be charged with accessory to murder.

The names and hometowns of the suspects were not released.

Efraim Zuroff, who works at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem to prosecute Nazis, praised the move and said it may open up more cases in the future.

"We commend the (prosecutors) for seeking to apply the precedent as widely as possible and hope that they will be able to find as many perpetrators as possible," he said to press.

Some of the Auschwitz guards live outside of the country-in Austria, the U.S., Poland, Brazil, and Croatia. Chillingly, one former Auschwitz guard lives in Israel.

In total, seven people live outside of Germany; two couldn't' be found; and one case had already gone to prosecutors.

Scrimm noted that due to the health of the guards, they may be difficult to bring to trial.

"I don't want to raise excessive expectations," he said.

Head of the  German investigative ooffice, Kurt Schrimm, said,  "The biggest enemy is time."  The suspects will be 86 to 97 years old.

His office is sending the case to state prosecutors' offices in 11 of Germany's 16 states. They will then decide whether to try the Auschwitz guards.

Schrimm's office is currently focusing on the other Nazi death camps, beginning with a prove into  all former personnel at Majdanek.

About 1.5 million people, largely Jews, were killed at Auschwitz alone between 1940 and 1945. In all, about 6 million Jews died in the Nazi Holocaust.

. He said expects to announce results of the Majdanek probe within six months.

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