Oskar Groening faces jail over Auschwitz atrocities

German prosecutors have sought a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for a 94-year-old former SS sergeant who served at Auschwitz in Nazi-occupied Poland, saying his role there made him an accessory to murder.

Oskar Groening has admitted guarding prisoners’ baggage after they were unloaded from cattle cars, and collecting money stolen from the new arrivals and sending it to Berlin.

Prosecutors told the court in their closing arguments that his role helped the camp function, and he should be convicted of 300,000 counts of accessory to murder.

Court spokeswoman Frauke Albers said that because Groening was previously investigated in the 1970s but authorities then shelved the case, prosecutors also recommended that he have between 14 and 22 months deducted from his sentence because he wasn’t granted a speedy trial.

Unusually for trials of former Nazi camp guards, Groening has been open about his past throughout the proceedings.

When the trial began in April, Groening said he felt moral guilt but it was up to the court to decide if he was legally guilty of a crime.

Dozens of Auschwitz survivors joined the trial as co-plaintiffs and many of them testified about their own experiences in the death camp.

Last week, Groening told the court in a statement read by his attorney that even though he had known what was going on at Auschwitz, the personal stories of the co-plaintiffs during the trial had brought home the enormity of the atrocities.

“I can only ask my God for forgiveness,” he said.

A verdict is expected this month, but has not yet been scheduled, Albers said.