Former Nazi SS Guard Convicted for Role in 300,000 Auschwitz Murders Files Plea for Mercy

Former Nazi SS Guard Oskar Groening has filed a plea for clemency after being sentenced to four years in prison for his role in the murders of 300,000 people at the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Groening, 96, was nicknamed “The Bookkeeper of Auschwitz” due to his job of sorting through the confiscated belongings of Jews and others sent to the camp. He helped with tallying money and bank notes and sending them to Berlin to fund the war effort.

Groening entered the public eye in 2005, when he began speaking out against Holocaust deniers. Groening confirmed his affiliation with the Nazi party to assure conspiracy theorists that he was there, and the systematic murder of millions of people did take place.

In 2015, he was put on trial in Lower Saxony for his crimes, and ultimately sentenced to four years in prison. Groening’s lawyer argued that, at his age, imprisonment violated his fundamental right to life. However, in December, a German constitutional court ruled that he must serve his sentence.

This latest ruling prompted Groening’s plea for clemency. A spokesman for the justice ministry in the northern state of Lower Saxony named Christian Lauenstein told reporters from DailyMail that the plea has been passed on to public prosecutors.

“A plea for clemency does not have a delaying effect such as on starting the prison sentence,” Lauenstein added.

Dr Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, said that the verdict and trial had “historic significance.”

“Although more than 70 years have passed since the liberation of the Nazi death camps, this trial reminds us that there is no statute of limitations for those responsible for Nazi horrors and demonstrates the constant need to guard against anti-Semitism, racism and hate,” Kantor said.

“We welcome the opportunity it provides for us to educate a generation that is all too distant from the horrors of the Holocaust.”

Groening’s case is expected to be the last major trial related to the Holocaust. Even as he fights the court’s decision, Groening acknowledges his responsibility for the actions of the Nazi regime. In court, he pointed out that he had never physically killed anyone during World War II, but said that he felt “morally guilty” for the deaths that took place at Auschwitz.