94-Year-Old Auschwitz Guard Apologizes to Victims in Court

— A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard currently on trial in Germany apologized to his victims in court.
Reinhold Hanning, a former Nazi SS officer on trial for being an accessory to the murder of 170,000 people, said Friday in court in the western German city of Detmold, that he is “ashamed that I knowingly let injustice happen and did nothing to oppose it.”
“I want to tell you that I deeply regret having been part of a criminal organization that is responsible for the death of many innocent people, for the destruction of countless families, for misery, torment and suffering on the side of the victims and their relatives,” Hanning said, reading from a written statement, according to Deutsche Welle. “I have remained silent for a long time. I have remained silent all of my life.”
It is the first time that Hanning spoke in court, over 12 sessions.
Holocaust survivor and co-plaintiff Leon Schwarzbaum said in court that he accepted Hanning’s apology, but could not forgive him. Schwarzbaum is one of 40 joint plaintiffs from Hungary, Israel, Canada, Britain, the United States and Germany.
Prosecutors said Hanning voluntarily joined the Waffen SS Death Head Unit at age 18, fighting in eastern Europe before being moved in January 1942 to Auschwitz, where he served until at least June 1944.
Hanning has denied participating in mass killings, but prosecutors argue that, as a guard, he helped facilitate the murders.
A verdict is expected on May 27. If found guilty Hanning could be sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 4
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish צווישן טרער און מוט — צווישן געדענקען און אומאָפּהענגיקייטBetween tears and courage — between memory and resilience
הירהורים צום 77סטן געבוירן־טאָג פֿון מדינת־ישׂראל
-
Opinion Ireland’s prime minister gave condolences for Hitler’s death — here’s why that’s a contemporary problem
-
Fast Forward The fires in Israel are under control — but debate is raging over their cause
-
Fast Forward Argentina declassifies more than 1,800 files on Nazi escape via ‘rat-lines’ to South America
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.