A 100-year-old man stands trial in Germany for 3,518 Nazi war crimes

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(CNN) – The trial of a 100-year-old former SS guard begins Thursday in the German city of Brandenburg an der Havel.

He is accused of being an accessory to murder in 3,518 cases dating back to his time as a guard at the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen, according to the Neuruppin prosecution.

The defendant allegedly worked in the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp as a prison guard from 1942 to 1945, during which time tens of thousands of prisoners died in the camp due to forced labor, starvation, disease, medical experiments and ill-treatment.

More than 200,000 people were interned in the concentration camp, which is located on the outskirts of Berlin, between 1936 and 1945.

The former Nazi death camp at Sachsenhausen, where the phrase “Arbeit macht frei” – work sets you free – is visible on the door, in Oranienburg, Germany.

“He is accused of having aided and instigated cruel and insidious killings” in the concentration camp, according to the indictment.

His charges “include shooting Soviet prisoners of war in 1942, aiding and inciting the murder of prisoners through the use of poison gas, as well as other shootings and murder of prisoners by creating and maintaining hostile conditions in the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp. “.

Prosecutors have not reported the centennial’s name in accordance with German privacy laws.

Despite his age, it has been considered that the man can be tried. Court hearings will last between two and two and a half hours a day. The court has scheduled a total of 22 trial dates.

Germany is racing against time to bring to justice the last surviving perpetrators of Nazi war crimes, who are now in their old age.