Former Auschwitz guard on trial for accessory to the murder of 170,000

Reinhold Hanning, center.
(Image credit: Bernd Thissen/AFP/Getty Images)

Reinhold Hanning, 94, is to go on trial in Germany on Thursday for being an accessory to the murder of at least 170,000 people at the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, The New York Times reports. Hanning was allegedly an SS sergeant who met Jewish prisoners as they arrived at the camp in rail cars.

While Hanning admits he worked at the camp between 1943 and 1944, he maintains that he was only a guard and did not harm anyone and did not know about the gas chambers. However, others insist that he couldn't have been ignorant of the operations at the camp due to the length of time he worked at Auschwitz. Elderly Holocaust survivors will be testifying against him in court.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.