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PHILADELPHIA — An 89-year-old Philadelphia man was ordered held without bail Wednesday on a German arrest warrant charging him with aiding and abetting the killing of 216,000 Jewish men, women and children while he was a guard at the Auschwitz death camp.

The man, retired toolmaker Johann “Hans” Breyer, was taken into custody by U.S. authorities Tuesday night.

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His attorney Dennis Boyle argued in federal court Wednesday that his client is too frail to be detained. Breyer was in court in an olive green jumpsuit and carrying a cane. But prosecutors said the detention center he’s being taken to is equipped to take care of him.

Breyer has admitted he was a guard at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in occupied Poland during World War II, but has told The Associated Press he was stationed outside the facility and had nothing to do with the wholesale slaughter of around 1.5 million Jews and others behind the gates.