Ex-Secretary Of Nazi Camp Convicted Of Complicity Tied To Over 10,500 Murders

A former typist, who worked as a teenage shorthand typist at Stutthof where she worked from 1943 to 1945, has been convicted of complicity in the murders of more than 10,500 people.

She was identified as Irmgard Furchner, the first woman to be tried for Nazi crimes in decades. She was given a two-year suspended jail term, CNN reported.

It was added that while she was a civilian worker, Furchner was fully aware of what was going on in the camp, BBC reported.

It is believed that about 65,000 people are thought to have died in horrendous conditions at Stutthof. This included Jewish Poles and captured Soviet soldiers.

As a result, Furchner was found guilty of aiding and abetting the murder of 10,505 people and complicity in the attempted murder of five others.

As she was only 18 or 19 at the time, she was tried in a special juvenile court.

In Stutthof, there were reportedly a variety of methods used to murder detainees. Also, thousands died in gas chambers there from June 1944.

The court at Itzehoe in northern Germany also heard from survivors of the camp. Some of them have already died in the course of the trial.

The trial began in September 2021 when Furchner reportedly went on the run from her retirement home. She was eventually tracked down, found by police on a street in Hamburg.

Also, Stutthof commandant Paul-Werner Hoppe was jailed in 1955 for being an accessory to murder and he was released five years later.

"I'm sorry about everything that happened,” Furchner stated after breaking her silence in the trial. "I regret that I was in Stutthof at the time - that's all I can say."

Furchner's trial could be the last to take place in Germany into Nazi-era crimes, although a few cases are still being investigated.