The Auschwitz Files: Why the Last SS Guards Will Go Unpunished

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Der Spiegel :

The Auschwitz Files: Why the Last SS Guards Will Go Unpunished

 

By Klaus Wiegrefe

It was a carefully coordinated campaign. Criminal investigators from the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bavaria, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg all struck at the same time, at 9 a.m. on Feb. 19 of this year. The investigators, driving civilian vehicles, drove up to residences in 12 locations and presented the suspects with search warrants. The officials had previously determined whether their targets had firearm or explosives licenses.

 

The suspects, of course, were not expected to put up any resistance. The youngest was 88 and the oldest almost 100. Nevertheless, three of the accused -- in Wiernsheim, Gerlingen and Freiburg -- were temporarily taken into custody.

 

The next day, prosecutors in each locality issued a press release titled: "Searches conducted of presumed former SS members at the Auschwitz concentration camp."