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| Auschwitz: Reinhold Hanning goes on trial in Germany | |
| (about 9 hours later) | |
| A 94-year former Nazi SS guard at the Auschwitz death camp is going on trial in Germany over the murder of at least 170,000 people. | |
| Prosecutors say Reinhold Hanning met Jewish prisoners as they arrived at the camp in occupied Poland and may have escorted some to the gas chambers. | Prosecutors say Reinhold Hanning met Jewish prisoners as they arrived at the camp in occupied Poland and may have escorted some to the gas chambers. |
| Mr Hanning has admitted being a guard but denies involvement in mass murder. | Mr Hanning has admitted being a guard but denies involvement in mass murder. |
| He is being tried in the city of Detmold, in what is likely to be one of the last cases of its kind. | |
| Mr Hanning is one of four elderly former Nazi guards - three men and a woman - who are due to go on trial in the coming months. | Mr Hanning is one of four elderly former Nazi guards - three men and a woman - who are due to go on trial in the coming months. |
| The Nazis killed about 1.1m people at Auschwitz, most of them Jews. | The Nazis killed about 1.1m people at Auschwitz, most of them Jews. |
| 'Spewing fire' | 'Spewing fire' |
| Mr Hanning was an SS guard at Auschwitz from 1943-44, at a time when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were murdered there. | |
| Survivors of the World War II death camp are due to testify against Mr Hanning. | Survivors of the World War II death camp are due to testify against Mr Hanning. |
| "The chimneys were spewing fire... the smell of burning human flesh was so unbelievable that one could hardly bear it," 94-year-old Leon Schwarzbaum was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying. | |
| Until recently, prosecutors were required to provide evidence that defendants were directly involved in the killings. | Until recently, prosecutors were required to provide evidence that defendants were directly involved in the killings. |
| But that changed with the 2011 conviction of John Demjanjuk, when a judge concluded that his activities as a camp worker in Nazi-occupied Poland amounted to complicity in mass murder. | But that changed with the 2011 conviction of John Demjanjuk, when a judge concluded that his activities as a camp worker in Nazi-occupied Poland amounted to complicity in mass murder. |
| Last year a German court sentenced Oskar Groening, 94, to four years in jail as an accessory to the murder of at least 300,000 people at Auschwitz. | Last year a German court sentenced Oskar Groening, 94, to four years in jail as an accessory to the murder of at least 300,000 people at Auschwitz. |
| Known as the SS "book-keeper of Auschwitz", he was allegedly responsible for counting banknotes confiscated from prisoners. | Known as the SS "book-keeper of Auschwitz", he was allegedly responsible for counting banknotes confiscated from prisoners. |
| Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp | Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp |
| How the Holocaust unfolded, year by year | How the Holocaust unfolded, year by year |
| Why did ordinary people commit atrocities in the Holocaust? | Why did ordinary people commit atrocities in the Holocaust? |