Bruno D. had been charged with accessory to 5,232 murders in the Stutthof camp. Some of the victims were executed, others died of illness. Some 40 survivors and relatives of those who died acted as co-plaintiffs in the case, and many of them testified in court during the nine-month trial.
The judge acknowledged the former SS guard's willingness to take part in the trial and listen to the testimony of victims, but said he refused to recognize his own guilt right until the end. "You saw yourself as an observer," she said.
Judge Anne Meier-Göring also flatly contradicted Bruno D.'s claim, made in his final statement, that he would not have stayed at Stutthof if he had seen a way out. "That is not true," she said. "You didn't look for a way out."
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