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Female Nazi Guard, Now 93, Under Investigation

German prosecutors examining role in 1945 Gross-Rosen death march

by
Gabriela Geselowitz
February 02, 2015
Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Rogoznica, in what's now western Poland. (Wikimedia Commons)
Gross-Rosen concentration camp in Rogoznica, in what’s now western Poland. (Wikimedia Commons)

The 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz may have just passed, but attempts to pursue a degree of justice for the horrors committed during the Holocaust aren’t over. Two nonagenarians could face prison time for their roles as Nazis guards, JTA reports.

Hamburg prosecutors announced today that they are investigating 93-year-old Hilde Michnia in connection with war crimes committed during the Holocaust. Michnia, née Lisiewicz, worked as a guard at both the Bergen-Belsen and Gross-Rosen concentration camps. She served a year in prison after the war for cruelty, including beating and threatening to murder prisoners. The current investigation examines her role in a death march from Gross-Rosen that resulted in the deaths of 1,400 women, and she could be charged with accessory to murder. Michnia has maintained that in Bergen-Belsen she worked only in the kitchens, and did not witness or know of the treatment and murder of Jews in the camp.

German prosecutors also announced today that the trial against Oskar Groening, also 93, the former Nazi guard charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder for his role at Auschwitz, would begin this summer in Luneburg. Prosecutors accuse the former guard of going through money and personal belongings of Jews arriving at the notorious death camp.

Dozens of plaintiffs, including Auschwitz survivors and their families, have joined the case against Groening.

Gabriela Geselowitz is a writer and the former editor of Jewcy.com.