Josef Schütz

Josef Schütz (16 November 1920 – 13 April 2023), known in the German press as Josef S.,[1] was a Lithuanian-born German Nazi concentration camp guard who was stationed at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In June 2022, at the age of 101, Schütz was handed a five year sentence after a criminal trial for complicity in war crimes during the Holocaust during World War II, becoming the oldest person tried and convicted for Nazi war crimes in Germany.

Josef Schütz
Other name(s)Josef S. (in German press)
Born(1920-11-16)16 November 1920
Lithuania
Died13 April 2023(2023-04-13) (aged 102)
Germany
AllegianceNazi Germany
Service/branchWaffen-SS
RankRottenführer
Known forSachsenhausen concentration camp guard

Biography

Josef Schütz was born in Lithuania on 16 November 1920.[2][3][4] By 1942, he was working in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp where one of his duties was being stationed in the watchtower.[5] During Schütz's tenure at the camp, there were three camp commandants under whom Schütz worked: Hans Loritz (1942), Albert Sauer (1942–1943), and Anton Kaindl (1943–1945). Schütz remained at the camp until the end of the war in 1945.[2] After the war, he was released as a prisoner of war in 1947, after which he moved to East Germany where he worked as a locksmith.[2] He was at one point married, but in 1986 became a widower.[2] By 2021, he lived in the northeast state of Brandenburg, Germany.[6]

Schütz died on 13 April 2023, at the age of 102.[7][8]

Trial and conviction

The trial opened on 7 October 2021, when Schütz was 100, in the Neuruppin Regional Court in Brandenburg, during which he was charged with 3,518 counts of being an accessory to murder.[9] The 17 co-plaintiffs were represented by Thomas Walther, who had previously won a conviction against former Ukrainian-American Waffen-SS guard John Demjanjuk a decade earlier in 2011.[6] Schütz was represented by Stefan Waterkamp.[10] While Schütz has been identified internationally, during and after the trial he is known in Germany only by his first name and last initial due to that country's privacy laws.[11] He pleaded not guilty.[12]

During the trial, Schütz stated he did "absolutely nothing" wrong and was not aware of the atrocities happening at Sachsenhausen.[13] Instead, he stated he worked as a "farm laborer near Pasewalk in northeastern Germany during the period in question", a claim which the court rejected.[13] The court used historical documents to prove he worked at the camp and was a non-commissioned officer in the Waffen-SS.[3] Testimonies of survivors were also heard, including from Leon Schwarzbaum, who showed a picture of his family who had died in the camp.[14] Schütz was sentenced to five years in prison for the crimes; when he arrived in court in a wheelchair to hear the verdict on 28 June 2022, he hid his face from the press with a folder to avoid being recognized.[4] During the verdict reading, Judge Udo Lechtermann stated, "You willingly supported this mass extermination with your activity."[1] The timeframe for appeal would have been within one week of the verdict.[4]

Schütz was the oldest person to be tried and convicted for Nazi-era war crimes in Germany.[15]

References
  1. "A German court sentences 101-year-old to 5 years for role as Nazi guard". Associated Press. 28 June 2022. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  2. Courbet, David (7 October 2021). "Ex-Nazi camp guard, 100, refuses to discuss atrocities at trial in Germany". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 11 October 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  3. "Nazi camp guard, 101, jailed for 'complicity' in 3,518 murders". Euro News. 28 June 2022. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022. The president of the court in Brandenburg-Havel told Schütz...
  4. Hyde, Bob (28 June 2022). "101-year-old SS guard sentenced for war crimes in German court". The Jewish Chronicle. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  5. "Ex-Nazi guard denies he was at Sachsenhausen concentration camp". Reuters. 2 December 2021. Archived from the original on 3 December 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  6. Joly, Josephine (10 August 2021). "'Justice has no expiry date': Former Nazi death camp guard, 100, goes on trial". Euro News. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  7. "Verurteilter KZ-Wachmann mit 102 Jahren gestorben". BZ Berlin. 26 April 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  8. "Brandenburg an der Havel: Verurteilter früherer KZ-Wachmann mit 102 Jahren gestorben". maz-online.de. 26 April 2023. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  9. "Nazi trial: 100-year-old SS guard in court in Germany". BBC. 7 October 2021. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  10. "A 100-year-old former Nazi guard has gone on trial, facing charges for 3,518 deaths". Associated Press. 7 October 2021. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  11. Timsit, Annabelle (28 June 2022). "Germany sentences 101-year-old ex-Nazi camp guard to five years". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  12. "German prosecutors seek five-year jail term for Nazi guard aged 101". The Guardian. 17 May 2022. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  13. "Germany sentences 101-year-old Nazi camp guard to 5 years in jail". Al Jazeera. 28 June 2022. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  14. "100-year-old ex-Nazi death camp guard goes on trial in Germany". Reuters. 7 October 2021. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
  15. Thurston, Joshua (28 June 2022). "Nazi war criminal Josef Schütz, 101, is oldest to be convicted". The Times. Archived from the original on 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
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