RismadarVoice Reporters
September 24, 2026
German prosecutors are investigating a 105-year-old man over allegations that he assisted in the killing of prisoners while serving as a guard at a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp during World War II.
The suspect is alleged to have served at Stalag 326 VI K in Senne, northwestern Germany.
Dortmund public prosecutor Sonja Frodermann said authorities had also investigated another former guard at the camp over similar allegations. That suspect died several months ago at the age of 99.
Prosecutors have not disclosed further details about either man.
The investigation comes more than eight decades after the end of World War II as German authorities continue efforts to prosecute surviving suspects accused of involvement in Nazi-era crimes.
Stalag 326 was one of Nazi Germany’s largest prisoner-of-war camps. Between 180,000 and 200,000 Soviet prisoners of war are estimated to have been registered there between 1941 and 1945.
Many prisoners were subjected to forced labour and severe shortages of food, while tens of thousands are believed to have died during captivity and been buried in the surrounding area.
Prisoners from France, Poland, Serbia and Belgium were also held at the camp.
More than 5.3 million Soviet Red Army soldiers were captured by Germany during World War II, with an estimated half dying in captivity.
Under German law, murder and accessory to murder are not subject to a statute of limitations, allowing prosecutors to pursue alleged Nazi-era crimes decades after they occurred.
However, prosecutions have become increasingly difficult as surviving suspects reach advanced ages and questions arise over their ability to stand trial.
In 2022, a German court sentenced 101-year-old former Sachsenhausen concentration camp guard Josef Schütz to five years in prison after convicting him of complicity in the murder of more than 3,500 prisoners.
Schütz died in 2023 while appealing the conviction and did not serve the sentence.
Also in 2022, a former secretary at a Nazi concentration camp was convicted of aiding and abetting murder and handed a suspended sentence. She died in 2025 at the age of 99.
German authorities continue to investigate surviving individuals suspected of involvement in Nazi-era crimes, with prosecutors assessing cases based on available evidence and whether suspects are medically fit to stand trial.
