Josef Schuetz, the oldest person to be convicted over crimes committed during the Holocaust, has died at the age of 102.
Schuetz was already more than 100 years old when he was convicted last year on more than 3,500 counts of accessory to murder, after being accused of serving as a guard at Sachsenhausen Nazi concentration camp during World War II.
More than 200,000 people were imprisoned at the camp, thousands of whom lost their lives there after it was built in the summer of 1936 by internees from the camps in the Emsland region.
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Those forced to live there died from starvation, forced labour, medical experiments and murder, though Schuetz denied ever working at the camp and instead said he worked as a farm labourer.
He appeared to show no regret during his trial in Germany, where he told the court: "I don't know why I'm sitting here in the sin bin. I really had nothing to do with it."
In contrast, prosecutors accused Schuetz of aiding and abetting the 'execution by firing squad of Soviet prisoners of war in 1942', as well as murdering prisoners 'using the poisonous gas Zyklon B'.
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Schuetz would have been just 21 years old at the time.
In spite of Schuetz's claims in the court, he was convicted after the court determined that documents including his name, date and place of birth proved his involvement.
"You willingly supported this mass extermination through your occupation," the judge in the case said at the time.
Schuetz was served a five-year prison sentence for his crimes, but wasn't put behind bars as he awaited the outcome of an appeal to the Federal Court of Justice.
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At Sachsenhausen camp, which was located in Oranienburg, north of Berlin, internees were initially forced to work in workshops and factories owned by the SS in the camp’s industrial yard, according to the Sachsenhausen Memorial and Museum.
As well as the deaths from forced labour, prisoners also suffered disease and were subject to medical experiments.
In 1941, at least 13,000 Soviet prisoners of war, including many Jewish people, were murdered in a purpose-built 'neck shot unit' and in the testing of gassing vehicles.
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A dedicated 'extermination unit' was built the following year, with a gas chamber added in 1943.
Topics: World News, UK News
Emily Brown