Stutthof Memorial: The court will soon hold an external appointment here.
Photo: dpa/Bernhard Sprengel
For more than a year, 97-year-old Irmgard F. has been sitting in her wheelchair in the courtroom, mostly motionless, following the so-called Stutthof criminal trial in Itzehoe for a maximum of two hours a day with an inserted break due to limited negotiating ability. It’s her trial, F. is accused of being an accessory to systematic murder in over 11,430 cases. The defendant remained silent on Tuesday, the 32nd day of the trial.
So far, 77 years after the events, there is no direct evidence, i.e. neither witness statements nor written finds, that the secretary and shorthand typist at the command of the Stutthof concentration camp near Danzig was involved in the killing machine. The prosecution therefore relies entirely on the statements of the historical expert Stefan Hördler, who testified 14 times on the witness stand on everyday life in the camp, on camp administration and on local conditions.
To create an overall picture of the concentration camp, the depressing descriptions of eight survivors who testified as joint plaintiffs during the trial via a video link can also be added. This included Halina Strnad, a native of Poland, who reported from Melbourne on June 14 about the mistreatment inflicted on her in the camp. Meanwhile, the court reached the news that she died at the age of 92. Of the 32 survivors at the beginning of the trial, only 29 are still involved in the trial as joint plaintiffs.
Also on the list of witnesses in Itzehoe: The former SS guard Bruno Dey, who works in Stutthof, was sentenced to two years of youth imprisonment on probation in July 2020 at the Hamburg Regional Court for being an accessory to murder in a total of 5232 cases and for being an accessory to an attempted murder . In June and August, the 95-year-old was rather taciturn and full of memory lapses, but when asked about the existence of a crematorium and mountains of corpses.
The island and shame
Heinz Reinefarth was Mayor of Sylt for twelve years. An exhibition reminds of how the Nazi war criminal was dealt with
To classify the role of the civilian employee Irmgard F. and the dubious statement that she claims to have had no knowledge of the horrific mass killings on site, a motion for evidence by the co-prosecutor Christoph Rückel is also intended to serve. On October 21, 2021, he had already called for an on-site visit to Stutthof in order to get a better impression of the distances, lines of sight, camp size and structural relationships at the time, especially the location of the headquarters building.
Only on Tuesday did the Large Youth Chamber, chaired by judge Dominik Groß, decide and agree to a personal inspection of the former camp site. On behalf of the youth chamber, he wants to do this together with judge Rebecca Knof, accompanied by historian Stefan Hördler. A protocol to be drawn up for this will then be included in the taking of evidence for all those involved in the process and the public in Itzehoe. According to Groß, however, all other parties involved in the process can also take part in the Stutthof visit, including the accused, of course, if they wish.
Defense attorney Wolf Molkentin had previously expressed legal concerns that such an on-site visit without the entire youth chamber could offer opportunities to contest a judgment – objections that Groß rejected with reference to previous case law and comments on it. There is no exact date for the Stutthof business trip.
