This Nazi Hunt Will Not Stop Even Though The Suspect Is Still A Sepuh-aged Suspect

Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp. (Wikimedia Commons/pzk.net)

JAKARTA - German well-known Nazi hunter Thomas Will continues to hope to be able to get severe punishment for Holocaust-related parties, although the remaining suspects are mostly in their late 90s.

Will told Reuters he had submitted five cases to local prosecutors in Germany, which he believed still had a chance to stand trial.

"The killings are not subject to a law of restriction. So as long as the perpetrators are alive, we will pursue the case," Will said from his office outside Stuttgart, southwest Germany.

Will heads the German State Judicial Authority Headquarters for National Socialist Crime Investigations (Nazi).

In 2015, German justice ministers agreed the agency should continue to operate "as long as there is a prosecution task that must be fulfilled."

Will said his job sent a signal to anyone who took such action today that they would never qualify.

When Holocaust survivors die, there are concerns that the knowledge of the genocide of six million European Jews across Germany's occupied Europe may decline or be denied. A continuing belief highlights the crimes that have occurred.

A survey published on Wednesday showed nearly a quarter of Dutch people born after 1980 believed the Holocaust was a myth or that the number of victims was exaggerated.

In Israel, Holocaust survivors use artificial intelligence (AI) to record their memories for future generations.

Since its founding in 1958, the Headquarters has launched 7,694 investigations into crimes of the Second World War era, involving many suspects, supporting many of the 18,688 cases brought to German courts.

Last Friday, 78 years even commemorated the release of the Auschwitz concentration camp and International Holocaust Commemoration Day in honor of millions of victims. Only a handful of cases are still circulating in Germany.

Last month's verdict against a 97-year-old woman who worked as camp secretary concentrated "surely one of the latter", Will said.

But the five cases he referred to "can still lead to prosecution. So maybe this is not the final decision", he said.

One case with authorities in Coburg in Bavaria is a 98-year-old man. Prosecutors said they were investigating the man on suspicion of assisting and conspiring in the murder, while he was a guard at the Ravensbrueck concentration camp from 1943 to 1945.

"Currently, he is deemed worthy of trial," said the prosecutor's spokesman. It is not clear whether the person, if found guilty, will be convicted of being a teenager or an adult because of his young age at the time of the alleged crime.

In a separate case, authorities in Giessen, north of Frankfurt, are conducting an initial investigation into a 98-year-old man suspected of working as a guard at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, also from 1943 to 1945.

Meanwhile in Hamburg, prosecutors said they were investigating a former marine, now 96, who allegedly worked for several months in 1945 in a concentration camp as a guard.

Will said his office had cataloged the names of people and interesting venues in more than 1.7 million index cards. The office is surrounded by high stone walls for safety.

It is known that the Russian war with Ukraine has provided other obstacles for its investigation. Travel to Moscow, which has German original documents from the camp, is no longer possible," he said.

Will said that his organization plans to become a center of memory and education. Until then, Will vowed to continue his work.