The man, who was a teenager at the time he served as a guard at Stutthof between June 1942 and September 1944, is accused of being an accessory to 100 counts of murder that took place at the Nazi camp during that time.

On trial in the western German city of Münster, the man addressed the charges against him for the first time in the district court with a written statement read by his lawyer on Tuesday.

The main gate into the former Stutthof Nazi concentration camp

In the statement, the man from the western city of Borken recounted his time serving as a guard at the Stutthof concentration camp in what is today Gdansk, and was then Danzig, in German-occupied Poland. He said he failed to resist Nazi orders out of fear.

He offered no apology to the victims or survivors of Nazi persecution.

Read more: Former SS guard stands trial on murder accessory charges

Although contrite, the defendant's statement also claimed innocence.

He sought to justify his presence at the camp by arguing he was forced into the situation: "Of course, I am ashamed to have been part of the SS, but I do not know that I would have had the courage to act otherwise today."

"There would have been reprisals against my family if I had not gone," he claimed. He was 18 years old at the time. The case is being tried under juvenile law as he was not yet 21 years old at the time of the crimes.

The 94-year-old was brought into court in a wheelchair

No knowledge of gas chambers

The man, who cannot be identified due to German privacy laws, also claimed he knew nothing of crimes being committed at the camp while he was there: "I knew nothing of the systematic killings, I knew nothing of the gas chambers or the crematoria."

The former guard says he was "ashamed of the condition the detainees were in," and that he "would have liked to leave" but felt that he could not do so.

The building that housed the gas chambers remains part of the memorial center at Stutthof. It was visited by Britain's Prince William in 2017.

The statement by the accused concluded with a denial that he had ever been a Nazi: "I will only say that I am not a Nazi. I never have been one and never will be."

Prosecutors had difficulty believing the man's claims. They have argued he could have left the camp if he had wanted to.

Lead prosecutor Andreas Brendel told the court: "We believe that the guards knew a lot more than what has been recounted today."

Germany's main office for investigating Nazi war crimes estimates that 65,000 people died in Stutthof and its subcamps, and on the death marches.

Looking back on Kristallnacht, the Nazis' anti-Jewish pogroms What happened on November 9-10, 1938? Anti-Semitic mobs, led by SA paramilitaries, went on rampages throughout Nazi Germany. Synagogues like this one in the eastern city of Chemnitz and other Jewish-owned property were destroyed, and Jews were subject to public humiliation and arrested. According to official records, at least 91 Jews were killed — though the real death toll was likely much higher.

Looking back on Kristallnacht, the Nazis' anti-Jewish pogroms What's behind the name? The street violence against German Jews is known by a variety of names. Berliners called it Kristallnacht, from which the English "Night of Broken Glass" is derived. It recalls the shards of shattered glass from the windows of synagogues, homes and Jewish-owned businesses. Nowadays, in German, it's also common to speak of the "pogrom night" or the "November pogroms."

Looking back on Kristallnacht, the Nazis' anti-Jewish pogroms What was the official reason for the pogrom? The event that provided the excuse for the violence was the murder of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old Polish Jew. Vom Rath was shot at close range at the German Embassy in Paris on November 7, and died days later. Grynszpan wasn't executed for the crime; no one knows whether he survived the Third Reich or died in a concentration camp.

Looking back on Kristallnacht, the Nazis' anti-Jewish pogroms How did the violence start? After vom Rath's death, Adolf Hitler gave Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels permission to launch the pogrom. Violence had already broken out in some places, and Goebbels gave a speech indicating the Nazis would not quash any "spontaneous" protests against the Jews. The SS were instructed to allow "only such measures as do not entail any danger to German lives and property."

Looking back on Kristallnacht, the Nazis' anti-Jewish pogroms Was the violence an expression of popular anger? No — that was just the official Nazi party line, but no one believed it. Constant references to "operations" and "measures" in Nazi documents clearly indicate the violence was planned ahead of time. It's unclear what ordinary Germans thought of the mayhem. There is evidence of popular disapproval, but the fact that the couple in the left of this picture appear to be laughing also speaks volumes.

Looking back on Kristallnacht, the Nazis' anti-Jewish pogroms What did the Nazis hope to gain? In line with their racist ideology, the Nazis wanted to intimidate Jews into voluntarily leaving Germany. To this end, Jews were often paraded through the streets and humiliated, as seen in this image. Their persecutors were also motivated by economic interests. Jews fleeing the Third Reich were charged extortionate "emigration levies," and their property was often confiscated.

Looking back on Kristallnacht, the Nazis' anti-Jewish pogroms Did the pogrom serve the Nazis' purpose? After the widespread violence German Jews were under no illusions about Nazi intentions, and those who could left the country. But such naked aggression played badly in the foreign press and offended many Germans' desire for order. Later, further anti-Jewish measures took more bureaucratic forms, such as the requirement that Jews wear a visible yellow Star of David stitched to their clothing.

Looking back on Kristallnacht, the Nazis' anti-Jewish pogroms What was the immediate aftermath? After the pogroms, the Nazi leadership instituted a whole raft of anti-Jewish measures, including a levy to help pay for the damage of November 9-10, 1938. The second-most powerful man in the Third Reich at the time, Hermann Göring, famously remarked: "I would not want to be a Jew in Germany."

Looking back on Kristallnacht, the Nazis' anti-Jewish pogroms What is Kristallnacht's place in history? In 1938, the beginning of what became known as the Holocaust was still two years away. But there is an obvious line of continuity from the pogrom to the mass murder of European Jews, in which the Nazi leadership would continue to develop and intensify their anti-Semitic hatred. In the words of one contemporary historian, the pogrom was a "prelude to genocide." Author: Jefferson Chase



js/jm (AFP, DPA)

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