Oskar Groning was once referred to as the "accountant of Auschwitz." He is also one of the few former Nazi guards assigned at the death camps to speak out against those who denied about the occurrence of the Holocaust.
Oskar Groning is now 93 year old, but he is about to face a trial in Germany. His current case proves what many historians have always seen as a failure of the German judiciary to bring the Holocaust perpetrators to justice.
From the years 1942 to 1944, Oskar Groning's primary task was to count the money that was taken from the luggage of the Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. After counting them, he sent the money back to the SS headquarters, which was based in Berlin. He also stood guard as the Jews were transported into the death camps.
Oskar Groning was never shy in describing his experiences as a death camp guard to the media. Now, though, the Germany's central office has initiated a new investigation, looking into the Nazi crimes that were committed in Ludwigsburg. Just last February, Germany's central office searched the homes of those who used to serve the SS across Germany. However, it was only Oskar Groning, at 93 years old, who was deemed fit enough to stand trial.
State prosecutors are looking into Oskar Groning's case, and for what they referred to as "legal and evidence reasons," his formal charges only involve the two months that he served at the camp, which was from May 16 to July 11 of 1944. This was during the infamous Hungary Operation when "around 425,000 people from Hungary arrived at the camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau." According to the records, "at least 300,000 found their deaths in the gas chambers." Because of these numbers, Oskar Groning has been charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder.
Oskar Groning only caught public attention when he appeared in a BBC documentary entitled "Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution" back in 2005. According to his statements, Holocaust deniers compelled him to speak up about the truth. He said, "I see it as my task now, at my age, to face up to these things that I experienced, and to oppose the Holocaust deniers who claim that Auschwitz never happened. I saw the crematoria. I saw the burning pits."
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