‘Accountant of Auschwitz’ admits moral guilt

A former Auschwitz guard acknowledged he bears a share of the moral guilt for atrocities at the camp, but told judges at the opening of his trial that it is up to them to decide whether he deserves to be convicted as an accessory to murder.

Oskar Groening, 93, acknowledged having helped tally money as part of his job dealing with the belongings stolen from people arriving at Auschwitz. That earned him the moniker “Accountant of Auschwitz.”

Groening testified that he volunteered to join the SS in 1940 after training as a banker, and served at Auschwitz from 1942 to 1944. He didn’t mention participating in any atrocities and said he unsuccessfully sought a transfer after witnessing one.

“I share morally in the guilt but whether I am guilty under criminal law, you will have to decide,” Groening told the panel of judges hearing the case as he closed an hour-long statement to the court. Under the German legal system, defendants do not enter formal pleas.

On his way into the court in Lueneburg, south of Hamburg, Groening told reporters he expects an acquittal. He could face a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison if found guilty.

Groening faces 300,000 counts of accessory to murder at the trial, which will test the argument that anyone who served as a guard at a Nazi death camp was complicit in what happened there.

The charges relate to a period between May and June 1944, when some 425,000 Jews from Hungary were brought to Auschwitz and at least 300,000 almost immediately gassed to death.

In his statement, Groening recalled that he and a group of recruits were told by an SS major before going to Auschwitz they would “perform a duty that will clearly not be pleasant, but one necessary to achieve final victory.”

The major gave no details, but other SS men told Groening at Auschwitz that Jews were being selected for work and those who couldn’t work were being killed.