Auschwitz defendant says he is not entitled to survivors’ forgiveness

LUENEBURG, Germany – A 94-year-old man charged as an accessory in the murders of about 300,000 people at the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau told a court Wednesday that he consciously had not asked Holocaust survivors for their forgiveness because, given the dimensions of their suffering, he is not entitled to it.

“I can only ask God for forgiveness,” former SS member Oskar Groening said in a written statement that was read by his attorney during his trial before the regional court in the northern German town of Lueneburg.

He confessed for a second time before the court to his participation and complicity in the Holocaust. His work contributed to the functioning of the concentration camp, Groening wrote.

The obedience that had been instilled in him prevented him from rebelling against the murders being carried out at the camp although by today’s standards, that mindset is incomprehensible, Groening wrote.

The trial of Groening, known as the bookkeeper of Auschwitz-Birkenau, began in April. He faces a minimum of three years in jail if convicted.

Groening is accused of collecting the valuables of Jews arriving at the camp before they were dispatched to its gas chambers.

He is also alleged to have counted the money found among their belongings and sent it to SS headquarters in Berlin.

Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest death camp established by the Nazis during World War II. More than 1 million people were murdered at the camp, the majority of them Jews. About 7,000 people survived.