Former concentration camp secretary Irmgard F. died: A dark chapter ends

Former concentration camp secretary Irmgard F. died: A dark chapter ends

Stutthof, Polen - Irmgard F., a former secretary of the Stutthof concentration camp, died on January 14, 2023 at the age of 99. It was sentenced to mass murder for aid, a judgment that was made on December 20, 2022 by the Itzehoe district court. The court imposed a youth penalty of two years on probation for their shared responsibility in 10,505 murder cases and five attempted murders. The Federal Court of Justice confirmed this judgment on August 20, 2023 and found that F. was informed about the events in the camp and knew the condition of the prisoners well.

The indictment against Irmgard F. was based on her work as a stenotypist in the administration of the Stutthof concentration camp between June 1943 and April 1945. In this function, she was responsible for the correspondence of the camp and had a close relationship with the camp commander Paul Werner Hoppe. She was accused of contributing to killing prisoners, in particular by the hostile conditions that prevailed in the camp, as well as organizing death transports and cooperation in a gas chamber.

The context of the concentration camp

concentration camps like Stutthof were central instruments of rule of the National Socialist regime. It is estimated that between 800,000 and 1 million people died in these camps, while only around 300,000 prisoners experienced the liberation in 1945. Overall, concentration and extermination camps called for up to six million lives, which resulted in the systematic annihilation of groups such as Jews, Roma and Sinti.

Between 1939 and 1945, around 110,000 people were imprisoned in Stutthof and his 39 outdoor camps, almost 65,000 of whom did not survive. The camp was notorious for its brutal conditions and the massive human rights violations. The Federal Court of Justice made it clear that F. did not act neutral due to its loyalty to the main actors, but actively contributed to maintaining the inhuman conditions.

processing and justice

The trial against Irmgard F. began in autumn 2021, but the pre -negotiations were delayed when she fled from her retirement home to Hamburg before the first appointment. As a result, she was taken into custody for five days. The case led to intensive discussions about the role of people who worked in such institutions and the responsibility for the crimes of National Socialism. Many of these perpetrators escaped criminal prosecution for decades, and the convictions often failed.

The laws to pursue Nazi crimes that arose after the Second World War have experienced many challenges, since the number of perpetrators convicted remained relatively low and many freedoms were made. The F. case is part of the lengthy search for justice for the victims of the Holocaust and illustrates the complexity of the processing of the National Socialist crimes.