Former Nazi camp guard denies being aware of killings

BERLIN – A former Nazi concentration camp guard on trial on hundreds of counts of being an accessory to murder says that although he served more than two years at Stutthof he was unaware prisoners were being executed there.

Johann Rehbogen told the Muenster state court Tuesday he knew “the treatment by the Nazis led to unspeakable suffering of the prisoners and led to many deaths.”

But news agency dpa reported that the 94-year-old said in a written response to a question read by his attorney: “It isn’t the case that I had any knowledge of concrete operations.”

More than 60,000 people were killed in a gas chamber at Stutthof, shot or killed by other methods. Prosecutors argue that Rehbogen is an accessory because he helped the camp operate from June 1942 to September 1944.