95-year-old alleged SS camp guard faces charges in Germany

Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Berlin prosecutors say they've charged a 95-year-old man with more-than 36,000 counts of being an accessory to murder on allegations he served as a guard in the Nazis' Mauthausen concentration camp.

Hans H., whose last name wasn't released because of privacy regulations, is accused of serving as an SS guard in the northern Austria camp from mid-1944 to early 1945. Prosecutors say during that time 36,223 people were killed there, primarily by gassing.

He's not accused of a specific killing, but prosecutors argue as a guard he helped the camp function.

Prosecutor Martin Steltner said Friday that "with his service as a guard he aided or at least made easier the killing of many thousands of inmates."

A court must review the charges and determine if he's fit for trial.