The trial against her started almost three years ago. The woman now lives in a nursing home in northern Germany and was brought to court in her wheelchair. Due to her young age at the time of the crimes, her case was tried in a juvenile court and the sentence was therefore two years in youth care.
The sentence is conditional, which means that she will not serve the sentence. In 1943, she was 18 years old and worked as a secretary to the head of the Nazi concentration camp Stutthof outside Gdansk in present-day Poland.
Knew what was going on
In order to create its own image of the place, the court also traveled there and held part of the trial at the building that 99-year-old Irmgard Furchner worked in. From her workplace, you could see both the gas chamber where prisoners were gassed to death and the ovens where the bodies were then burned in.
During the trial, several witnesses told of the constant stench of bodies being burned, even outdoors when the ovens were full. The court concludes that the woman must have known what was going on in the camp. Partly through her own observations and partly through her taking notes as a stenographer during meetings held by the management of the camp.
Everything significant that happened in the camp is deemed to have passed her desk. And her work as a secretary therefore helped the Nazis kill thousands of people, the court reasoned.
“Sorry about everything that happened”
The woman herself has not said much during the process. In the final hearing in the lower instance two years ago, she spoke out for the first time.
– I am sorry about everything that happened. I regret being in Stutthof during that time. I can’t say more, said Irmgard Furchner then.
The trial, which may have been the last to be held against concentration camp employees, has also been questioned due to the woman’s advanced age, the fact that the crimes date back 80 years and that she was not directly involved in the killing itself.