Ex-Nazi camp secretary convicted of aiding mass murder died at age 99

A 99-year-old former secretary at the Stutthof concentration camp convicted for aiding and abetting the mass murder of more than 10,000 people between June 1943 and April 1945 has died, prosecutors said on Monday.

The woman, identified under German privacy laws as Irmgard F, passed away on January 14, a spokesman said.

Her case drew widespread media attention in Germany as it was considered the likely last criminal trial for addressing the Nazi mass murders. It was also the first time a civilian worker was found guilty for the crimes committed at the camps.

In August last year, Germany's Federal Court of Justice dismissed her appeal against a verdict handed down by the Itzehoe Regional Court, to the north of Hamburg, in December 2022.

The regional court had sentenced the woman to a two-year suspended juvenile sentence for aiding and abetting murder in 10,505 cases and attempted murder in five cases.

The woman received a youth sentence as she was under 21 years old at the time the crimes were committed.

Irmgard F was employed as a typist in the commandant's office of the Stutthof Nazi concentration camp near what was then the Free City of Danzig - now Gdańsk in Poland - when she was 18-19 years old.

The regional court had judged that through her work, the young woman had assisted the camp's officials in the systematic killing of inmates. Also, supporting activities could legally be seen as aiding and abetting murder.