US Holocaust survivor’s help sparks criminal charges against Nazi guard
An American holocaust survivor identified ex-guard Johann Rehbogen as a teenage SS officer who taunted her and other female prisoners as they undressed each morning.
By STEPHEN MONTEMAYOR / STAR TRIBUNE (MINNEAPOLIS)
MINNEAPOLIS (TNS) —In Judith Meisel’s last image of her mother, Mina, she is standing outside a gas chamber at the Stutthof concentration camp in Poland, awaiting the same fate that befell 65,000 other prisoners there.This summer, as she has countless times before, the St. Louis Park, Minneapolis resident relived the experience in wrenching detail, but this time for a set of German prosecutors who, aided by Minnesota FBI agents, were racing to bring to justice the few Nazis still alive who can be linked to World War II-era atrocities.Now, Meisel, 88, knows her assistance paid off: German authorities this month indicted two ex-guards on charges of being accessories to many of the murders at Stutthof, located near what is now the Polish city of Gdansk.Under German law, Meisel could join prosecutors as a “co-plaintiff” in the case.In June, Meisel stunned the Germans, and her family, when she identified one of the ex-guards, Johann Rehbogen, as a teenage SS officer who taunted her and other female prisoners as they undressed each morning.The charges, made possible by new German legal guidance allowing the prosecution of former Nazis who can’t be tied to specific killings, represent a new and vital chapter for survivors like Meisel."I understand that the person who has been indicted was a young man at the time,” Meisel said. “Still, the questions he must answer are an important part of this story.”How, for example, did he take such a gruesome job at such a young age? What did he think when he watched women and children being killed on an industrial scale? How has he explained his past to his family and friends?Meisel awaits any details the 94-year-old Rehbogen can provide, even if it means she must again relive the horror of her years inside the camp.“This process of seeking answers and finding justice for my mother gives new meaning to my life,” Meisel said.