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German prosecutors investigate a 105-year-old former Nazi POW camp guard
September 24, 2026
Dortmund prosecutors are investigating a 105-year-old man thought to have guarded Stalag 326 VI K in Senne as an accessory to multiple murders.
In Germany, a central Nazi crimes office in Ludwigsburg takes up cases before Dortmund prosecutors pursue them, and camp staff have faced trial several times in recent years.
German prosecutors are examining whether a 105-year-old man took part in crimes at a Nazi camp for captured soldiers, CBS News reports, citing a Thursday statement. Prosecutors believe he stood guard at Stalag 326 VI K, in the Senne area of western Germany, and allege he helped enable multiple murders there as an accessory. BBC gives the same account through Sonja Frodermann, the public prosecutor in Dortmund, who says the inquiry continues.
BBC and CBS News agree that the Senne inquiry is one of several. Each says a second man who guarded Senne faced a similar inquiry and has since died. Each also says Dortmund prosecutors are examining a centenarian who guarded the Hemer camp, and CBS News adds that its inmates were mostly Soviet and that he is suspected of joining executions from December 1943 to September 1944. On Senne itself, CBS News cites the memorial at the site, which counts 180,000 to 200,000 Soviet captives held there from 1941 until American troops freed the camp in April 1945. BBC dwells on the cruelty inside, describing hunger and brutal treatment.
CBS News sets the inquiry against a run of trials that followed the 2011 conviction of John Demjanjuk. Both outlets recall Josef Schütz, whom CBS News reports a court sentenced in June 2022 to five years. BBC stresses how hard justice has become so long after the war, since most people who could face charges are dead. The inquiry into the 105-year-old is corroborated, and prosecutors have released no further details about him.
Still developing
What prosecutors found about the former guard's activities at Senne was still coming in at the time of draft.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- BBC — 105-year-old investigated for crimes at Nazi PoW camp in Germany
- CBS News — Accused 105-year-old Nazi POW camp guard under investigation in Germany
Toggle read the full reports of 4 of the 5 outlets counted on this event. The other 1 are counted from their headlines and opening sentences.