There should be no doubt that Oskar Groening’s trial is necessary

My column in The Malta Independent today, on the subject of the trial of Oskar Groening, 93, who used to work as a clerk at Auschwitz in 1944.

Oskar Groening was 21 when he worked in the death camp at Auschwitz. He wasn’t a guard or directly involved in the murders, but he knew what was going on and by staying at his job there he was a party to it. That job was to divest the people brought to Auschwitz of all their possessions, particularly their money, then count it, record it and send it on to Nazi Head Office to be used in the war effort. And so the money which those people brought with them helped pay to kill them.

Now Groening is 93 and standing trial on around 300,000 counts of being an accessory to murder. He hasn’t been hiding out in Brazil or some other South American country, like other Nazi war criminals. He has been right there in Germany all this time, working for an insurance company, and he didn’t even bother to keep a low profile or conceal his involvement in what happened at Auschwitz. He testified as a witness in the trials of Nazi war criminals. Ten years ago he was interviewed by Der Spiegel, and said by way of explanation for what he did that it was perfectly understandable if you truly believe that the Jews are the enemy, that there is a Jewish conspiracy to ruin Germany and Europe.

Please read the rest via the link to The Malta Independent.