Unless you're chicken. However, Mr Groening says he did not take part directly in the killing, and described his role as "a small cog in the gears". Groening - who is known as "the bookkeeper of Auschwitz" - has admitted his "moral guilt". 25 April 2015 Oskar Groening interview from a 2005 BBC documentary Oskar Groening is now a frail, white-haired old man, who says his task as a … .css-1xgx53b-Link{font-family:ReithSans,Helvetica,Arial,freesans,sans-serif;font-weight:700;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;color:#FFFFFF;}.css-1xgx53b-Link:hover,.css-1xgx53b-Link:focus{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}Read about our approach to external linking. Oskar Groening interview from a 2005 BBC documentary A former guard at the Auschwitz death camp has submitted a request for mercy to avoid jail in Germany. Convicted Auschwitz guard Oskar Groening pleads for ... - BBC British historian Laurence Rees says Mr Groening began training as a bank clerk at 17, but after war was declared, he decided he wanted to follow in his grandfathers' footsteps and join an "elite" unit in the German army. So the trial of Oskar Groening will be one of the last of its kind. Why a Holocaust Survivor Forgave the Nazis | The Girl Who Forgave The Nazis - Duration: 4:06. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Video, 'Irreparable damage': Italy's ski resorts deserted, Fauci hopes to encourage others by getting vaccine. Trial date set for 'Auschwitz bookkeeper' Groening, The poet, the queen and 120-year-old chocolate. Stella Tennant: Model dies days after 50th birthday, Brexit: EU-UK trade deal expected, as cabinet briefed, UN criticises Trump's pardons for Blackwater guards jailed over Iraq killings, UK has two cases of variant linked to South Africa, Muslim-Canadian's 'first Christmas' goes viral, Over half of Chinese adults overweight, study finds, Deepfake queen to deliver Channel 4 Christmas message, Sister Abhaya: Indian priest and nun jailed for murder of convent sister. More than 70 years have passed since the liberation of the death camps and many of those involved have now died. Read about our approach to external linking. Media caption In a 2005 BBC documentary, Mr Groening explained why he believed it was right to kill Jews during the time of the death camps. 2:30. A former Nazi death camp guard, the 94-year-old has been convicted of being an accessory to the murder of at least 300,000 people and sentenced to four years in prison. "If you can describe that as guilt, then I am guilty, but not voluntarily. Oskar Groening waits before start of the third day of his trial on April 23, 2015 in Lueneburg, Germany. His father, a proud nationalist, joined the Stahlhelm paramilitary group after Germany's defeat in World War One. Video, 'Irreparable damage': Italy's ski resorts deserted. Read about our approach to external linking. In 2015 Oskar Groening, 96, was VideoFauci hopes to encourage others by getting vaccine. A German court has convicted a 94-year-old former guard at the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz of being an accessory to the murder of at least 300,000 Jews. Mr Groening, known as the "book-keeper of Auschwitz", was allegedly responsible for counting banknotes confiscated from prisoners. The Demjanjuk trial was one of two issues that would come to haunt Groening. He was sentenced even though there was no evidence of his involvement in specific killings. © 2020 BBC. Mr Groening was born in 1921 in Lower Saxony in Germany, and his mother died when he was four, Germany's Der Spiegel magazine reports. VideoCan face masks help people sing together again? .css-14iz86j-BoldText{font-weight:bold;}Age poses a challenge for prosecutors trying to bring suspected Nazi war criminals to justice. © 2020 BBC. "I was on the ramp when the selections [for the gas chambers] took place.". Instead he began a normal, middle-class life in Lueneburg Heath in Lower Saxony, where he worked at a glass-making factory until retirement. Prior to that, Groening was a virtual unknown, living out his life peacefully in a small German town. By Carolyn Yeager SPIEGEL PANORAMA REPORTED ON 4 DECEMBER 2020, the second day of the Berlin trial that Oskar Groening, dubbed the 'bookkeeper of Auschwitz', is taking the stand for a second day. Video, 'Irreparable damage': Italy's ski resorts deserted, Fauci hopes to encourage others by getting vaccine. He spoke of witnessing an SS soldier murdering a baby, and how the treatment of the prisoners had "horrified" him. Video. .css-1xgx53b-Link{font-family:ReithSans,Helvetica,Arial,freesans,sans-serif;font-weight:700;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;color:#FFFFFF;}.css-1xgx53b-Link:hover,.css-1xgx53b-Link:focus{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}Read about our approach to external linking. "It's just that that 'right' then turns out not to be 'right today'. A court upholds the conviction of Auschwitz guard Oskar Groening, in a major reversal of German policy. What happens to your body in extreme heat? Dreimal will Oskar Gröning um Versetzung gebeten haben - weg von seinem Posten in der Verwaltung des Konzentrationslagers Auschwitz. His anger at how Germany had been treated under the Treaty of Versailles increased when his textile business went bankrupt in 1929. Ironically, Gröning stood out because of a chilling interview he had given to the BBC in 2005, to refute Holocaust deniers. The other was a 2005 interview he gave to the BBC, in which he exposed his own role in the Holocaust. On Monday, a justice ministry spokesman in the northern Lower Saxony said Groening's plea had been passed on to prosecutors. In 2015 Oskar Groening, 96, was given a.. Oskar Groening interview from a 2005 BBC documentary A 93-year-old former Nazi SS guard, known as the Bookkeeper of Auschwitz, has admitted he is morally guilty . The president objects to troop withdrawal limits and removing Confederate names from military bases. Joined the Hitler Youth and then the Waffen SS, Worked at Auschwitz from 1942, counting money confiscated from prisoners, Expressed regret and spoke openly of Auschwitz experiences, saying he wanted to counter Holocaust deniers. Oskar Groening … “He kind of exposed himself,” says the Canadian-born director. ", .css-yidnqd-InlineLink:link{color:#3F3F42;}.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:visited{color:#696969;}.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:link,.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:visited{font-weight:bolder;border-bottom:1px solid #BABABA;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:link:hover,.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:visited:hover,.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:link:focus,.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:visited:focus{border-bottom-color:currentcolor;border-bottom-width:2px;color:#B80000;}@supports (text-underline-offset:0.25em){.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:link,.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:visited{border-bottom:none;-webkit-text-decoration:underline #BABABA;text-decoration:underline #BABABA;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:1px;text-decoration-thickness:1px;-webkit-text-decoration-skip-ink:none;text-decoration-skip-ink:none;text-underline-offset:0.25em;}.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:link:hover,.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:visited:hover,.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:link:focus,.css-yidnqd-InlineLink:visited:focus{-webkit-text-decoration-color:currentcolor;text-decoration-color:currentcolor;-webkit-text-decoration-thickness:2px;text-decoration-thickness:2px;color:#B80000;}}'Bookkeeper of Auschwitz', .css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:link{color:inherit;}.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:visited{color:#696969;}.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:link,.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:visited{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:link:hover,.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:visited:hover,.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:link:focus,.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:visited:focus{color:#B80000;-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;}.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:link::after,.css-1hlxxic-PromoLink:visited::after{content:'';position:absolute;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;left:0;z-index:2;}Oskar Groening Auschwitz conviction marks 'dramatic change', Auschwitz guard trial: Oskar Groening admits 'moral guilt', .css-q4by3k-IconContainer{display:none;height:1em;width:1em;vertical-align:-0.125em;margin-right:0.25em;}playOskar Groening on Nazi ideology, Trump vetoes 'unconstitutional' defence bill. Video, Fauci hopes to encourage others by getting vaccine, Can face masks help people sing together again? The young Groening joined the Stahlhelm Youth in the early 1930s, and then the Hitler Youth. It was not until he heard people denying the Holocaust had ever happened, decades later, that he suddenly felt the need to speak up. UK-EU trade deal expected, as cabinet briefed, .css-q4by3k-IconContainer{display:none;height:1em;width:1em;vertical-align:-0.125em;margin-right:0.25em;}playThe poet, the queen and 120-year-old chocolate. VideoStranded at sea: Survivors' stories, play'Irreparable damage': Italy's ski resorts deserted. VideoCan face masks help people sing together again? But he said that at the time he believed that killing Jews - including children - was the "right" thing to do. Eva Kor, 81, arrived in Lueneburg to give evidence at the trial of Oskar Groening, 93 – known as the 'bookkeeper of Auschwitz'. Now 93, he goes on trial Tuesday in a state court in the northern … Widowed penguins hug in award-winning photo. But Christian Lauenstein added: "A plea for clemency does not have a delaying effect such as on starting the prison sentence. In 2015 Oskar Groening, 96, was given a four-year prison sentence for being accessory to murder of 300,000 Jews in the camp in Nazi-occupied Poland. … Oskar Groening Auschwitz conviction marks 'dramatic change', Stranded at sea: Survivors' stories. Prosecutors in Lueneburg, northern Germany, also allege that he hid victims' luggage away from new arrivals, to disguise the victims' fate. "He carried on working at Auschwitz not just because he was ordered to but because... he thought the extermination programme was right. playCan face masks help people sing together again? VideoThe poet, the queen and 120-year-old chocolate, playStranded at sea: Survivors' stories. Oskar Gröning (10 June 1921 – 9 March 2018) was a German SS Unterscharführer who was stationed at the Auschwitz concentration camp.His responsibilities included counting and sorting the money taken from prisoners, and he was in charge of the personal property of arriving prisoners. Stella Tennant: Model dies days after 50th birthday, Muslim-Canadian's 'first Christmas' goes viral, Twitter to wipe Trump's followers before Biden handover, Brexit: EU-UK trade deal expected, as cabinet briefed, UN criticises Trump's pardons for Blackwater guards jailed over Iraq killings, Gal Gadot defends Cleopatra casting after 'whitewashing' controversy, UK has two cases of variant linked to South Africa, Sister Abhaya: Indian priest and nun jailed for murder of convent sister. Trending news, trending non-news or viral Twitter takedowns—we've got all you need, and a lot of what you didn't know you needed. Video, The poet, the queen and 120-year-old chocolate, Stranded at sea: Survivors' stories. Oskar Gröning (sometimes spelled Groening or Groning in English; 1921 - 2018) was a German former SS-Unterscharführer who was stationed at the Auschwitz camp.His responsibilities included counting and sorting the money taken from prisoners, and he was in charge of the effects prisoners had arrived with. "I see it as my task now, at my age, to face up to these things that I experienced, and to oppose the Holocaust deniers who claim that Auschwitz never happened," he said. Na luta anti fascista. He gave a public interview in 2005, believing himself to be exempt from prosecution. He says Mr Groening "shields himself" from taking full responsibility, by referring to the power of family beliefs and propaganda, but that he does not claim to have purely been following orders. .css-14iz86j-BoldText{font-weight:bold;}A former guard at the Auschwitz death camp has submitted a request for mercy to avoid jail in Germany. Last year, Germany's constitutional court rejected his appeal, ruling that Groening was fit to serve his sentence. playCan face masks help people sing together again? Video, 'Irreparable damage': Italy's ski resorts deserted. Oskar Groening is … I saw the crematoria," he told the BBC in the 2005 documentary Auschwitz: the Nazis and the "Final Solution". Oskar Groening interview from a 2005 BBC documentary A 93-year-old former Nazi SS guard, known as the "Bookkeeper of Auschwitz", has admitted he is "morally" guilty. VideoStranded at sea: Survivors' stories, play'Irreparable damage': Italy's ski resorts deserted. In the book accompanying the BBC documentary, historian Laurence Rees describes the experience of listening to Mr Groening speak about his time at Auschwitz as a "strange experience". Video'Irreparable damage': Italy's ski resorts deserted, A Covid lockdown and 200,000 unplanned babies, TV networks backtrack on US voter fraud claims, The blogger scouring the past to inform the future, The lawyer who fought for women’s suffrage in India, playFauci hopes to encourage others by getting vaccine. Mr Groening, who began work at Auschwitz aged 21, admits witnessing the mass killing of Jews, but denies he was an "accomplice". One of the black-uniformed men on the ramp was likely SS guard Oskar Groening. ... BBC News 22,598,006 views. "I saw the gas chambers. Appearing in the BBC documentary "Auschwitz: The Nazis and the 'Final Solution" in 2005, he said that pervasive Holocaust denial had led to him to speak out. Oskar Groening was sentenced to four years behind bars in July 2015, for his role in the murder of 300,000 people at a Nazi death camp in Poland Aletha Adu 29 Nov 2017, 21:33 He signed up to the Waffen SS and arrived in Auschwitz in 1942. 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