German prosecutors have opened an investigation into a former guard at the Nazi prisoner-of-war camp Stalag Senne on suspicion of murder or aiding murder during World War II. The suspect, now about 100 years old, served at the camp from 1941 to 1945, according to a report in Die Tageszeitung. Dortmund prosecutors said the case is being handled by the central Nazi-crimes investigation unit in North Rhine-Westphalia, and senior prosecutor Andreas Brandl confirmed that criminal proceedings are underway. The suspect has not been named.
Stalag Senne operated in East Westphalia during the war and held prisoners of war, mainly Soviet Red Army soldiers, as well as captives from Poland, France, Serbia and Italy. An estimated more than 300,000 prisoners passed through the camp, and most were forced into labor.
Conditions were described as extremely harsh. Prisoners were first kept in earth pits and makeshift barracks, and they suffered severe shortages of food, hygiene and medical care. Various estimates put the death toll at between 15,000 and 70,000 prisoners, who died there from starvation, disease and neglect.
The suspicion is that camp personnel, including guards, knew about the brutal conditions and mass deaths but failed to stop them. Guards were mostly older Wehrmacht soldiers or men assigned to rear-area service, and their duties included preventing escapes, even with firearms. The investigation is continuing, and no further details have been released about the suspect's identity or exact role.
