Germany’s Neuruppin Regional Court in Brandenburg Tuesday convicted a 101-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard of 3,518 counts of accessory to murder and sentenced him to five years imprisonment. 

Former SS guard Josef Schuetz was charged for his participation in the “execution by firing squad of Soviet prisoners of war in 1942” and operating the gas chambers at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Josef denied all the alleged charges and contended that he worked as a farm labourer near Pasewalk in Northeastern Germany. However, the court commenced the trial last year in October.

Judge Udo Lechtermann observed that the accused “willingly supported the mass extermination” in his role. He further said:

The court is convinced that you worked as a guard at the concentration camp for around three years, despite your assertions to the contrary. You watched deported people being cruelly tortured and murdered there every day for three years.

Sachsenhausen witnessed 200,000 people imprisoned, with at least 30,000 deaths. Joseph is considered the oldest person to be convicted of Holocaust crimes. Previously, a 93-year-old former guard was convicted for 5,232 murders and a 95-year-old former camp secretary was charged with 10,000 counts of accessory to murder, whose ruling is pending.  

Joseph can appeal his sentence to the Federal Court of Justice within a week.