91-Year-Old German Woman Charged On Nazi Allegations

FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2012 file photo the entrance with the inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets You Free) the former German Nazi death camp of Auschwitz is pictured in Oswiecim, Poland. A German court sa... FILE - In this Oct. 19, 2012 file photo the entrance with the inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets You Free) the former German Nazi death camp of Auschwitz is pictured in Oswiecim, Poland. A German court says a 93-year-old man will go on trial in April on allegations he was accessory to 300,000 murders as an SS guard at the Nazis’ Auschwitz death camp. The Lueneburg state court said Monday Feb. 2, 2015 Oskar Groening’s trial would open April 21. Groening has openly talked about his time as a guard and says he witnessed atrocities but didn't commit any himself. He’s one of some 30 former Auschwitz guards who federal investigators in 2013 recommended that state prosecutors pursue charges against. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, File) MORE LESS

BERLIN (AP) — German prosecutors say they’ve charged a 91-year-old woman with 260,000 counts of accessory to murder on allegations she was a member of the Nazi SS who served in the Auschwitz death camp complex.

Schleswig-Holstein prosecutors’ spokesman Heinz Doellel said Monday the woman, whose name wasn’t disclosed due to German privacy laws, is alleged to have served as a radio operator for the camp commandant from April to July 1944.

Prosecutors argue that she can be charged as an accessory because she helped the death camp function. A 94-year-old former SS sergeant at Auschwitz was convicted on the same reasoning earlier this year.

Doellel says there are no indications the woman is unfit for trial, though a court likely won’t decide on whether to proceed with the case until next year.

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