Trial postponed for former Stutthof Nazi SS guard due to health concerns
The judge suspended the trial on Thursday because Rehbogen was hospitalized with heart and kidney problems, the news agency AFP reported.
By MARCY OSTER/JTAStutthof concentration camp, Poland(photo credit: WIKIMEDIA / PHILIPP P EGLI)
(JTA) — The trial in Germany of a former Nazi SS guard, now 95, was suspended due to his ill health.Johann Rehbogen is accused of being complicit in the mass murders of several hundred prisoners at the Stutthof Nazi concentration camp. More than 60,000 people were killed at Stutthof during World War II.Rehbogen, who uses a wheelchair and is in declining health, was younger than 21 when he worked at the camp between 1942 and 1944 and thus is being tried in a juvenile court in the western German city of Münster. The trial started last month and only met twice a week on non-consecutive days to accommodate his age and poor health.The judge suspended the trial on Thursday because Rehbogen was hospitalized with heart and kidney problems, the news agency AFP reported.A doctor will examine him next month to see if he can continue the trial, though a medical expert told the court that it is unlikely that he will recover, according to the report.
