A new Nazi Prosecution investigation is taking place in Dortmund, Germany. It  involves  a 105-year-old former prisoner-of-war camp guard has once again brought the crimes of Nazi Germany and World War II into focus.

German prosecutors are investigating the man over allegations that he was an accessory to multiple murders while serving as a guard at Stalag 326 VI K in Senne, in northwestern Germany.

The case is being handled by prosecutors  after the Central Office for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes in Ludwigsburg conducted preliminary investigations.

The investigation is one of the latest efforts by German authorities to pursue alleged Nazi-era crimes more than 80 years after the end of World War II. It also illustrates the extraordinary difficulties involved in prosecuting suspects who are now in their 90s or 100s.

World War II and the Nazi Prison Camp System

Nazi Germany created an extensive network of concentration camps, extermination camps, forced-labor camps and prisoner-of-war camps during World War II. Millions of people were imprisoned, exploited, tortured and killed as part of the Nazi regime's system of persecution and mass murder.

Stalag 326 VI K, the camp at the center of the latest investigation, was one of the major prisoner-of-war camps for Soviet soldiers. Between 1941 and 1945, approximately 180,000 to 200,000 Soviet prisoners were registered there. Many died from starvation, disease, brutal conditions and mistreatment, while others were subjected to forced labor. The camp was liberated by American forces in April 1945.

The scale of the Soviet prisoner-of-war tragedy was enormous. Millions of Soviet soldiers were captured by Nazi Germany, and more than half of the approximately 5.7 million Soviet prisoners held in German captivity are estimated to have died.

The Latest Nazi Prosecution: A 105-Year-Old Camp Guard

German prosecutors announced on September 24, 2026, that a 105-year-old man is under investigation on suspicion of being an accessory to multiple murders at Stalag 326 VI K.

Authorities allege that he served as a guard at the camp. His alleged responsibility is being examined in connection with the deaths of prisoners there.

A second investigation involving a former Stalag 326 guard had also been underway, according to Dortmund prosecutor Sonja Frodermann. That suspect died several months ago at age 99.

The investigation demonstrates the narrow window remaining for German prosecutors. Many people who were involved in the Nazi camp system have already died, while evidence becomes increasingly difficult to locate and witnesses are increasingly elderly.

Germany's current criminal law provides that murder is not subject to a statute of limitations. The country's Central Office for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes explains that participation in murder, including aiding and abetting, can be prosecuted within the applicable legal framework.

Josef Schütz: The 101-Year-Old Sachsenhausen Guard

One of the most closely watched recent Nazi prosecutions involved Josef Schütz, a former guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

In June 2022, Schütz was convicted by a German court of being an accessory to the murder of 3,518 prisoners at Sachsenhausen between 1942 and 1945. He was sentenced to five years in prison. At 101, he was the oldest person to stand trial for Nazi-era war crimes..

Schütz denied the allegations. Prosecutors argued that his role as a camp guard contributed to the functioning of the system in which prisoners were murdered and abused.

Schütz appealed his conviction but died in April 2023 at age 102 before a final decision on his appeal. As a result, he never served the five-year sentence. The International Auschwitz Committee confirmed his death and noted that the original five-year sentence had been imposed in June 2022.

Irmgard Furchner: The Camp Secretary Case

Irmgard Furchner's case demonstrated that Nazi-era prosecutions were not limited to people accused of physically killing prisoners.

Furchner worked as a secretary and stenographer in the commandant's office at the Stutthof concentration camp between 1943 and 1945. In December 2022, she was convicted of being an accessory to the murder of 10,505 people and an accessory to attempted murder in five cases. She received a two-year suspended sentence.

Because she was 18 and 19 when she worked at the camp, Furchner was tried in juvenile court.

In August 2024, Germany's Federal Court of Justice upheld the conviction, making the sentence final. The court rejected her appeal and maintained that her work contributed to the operation of the camp and its system of mass murder.

Her prosecution became an important example of how German courts have examined the roles of people who helped operate Nazi concentration camps even when they were not personally accused of carrying out individual killings.

Bruno Dey: A Teenage SS Guard at Stutthof

The third major recent prosecution involved Bruno Dey, who was 17 and 18 when he served as an SS guard at Stutthof concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

In July 2020, a Hamburg court convicted Dey of 5,232 counts of accessory to murder and one count of accessory to attempted murder. He received a two-year suspended sentence. Because he was a teenager when the crimes occurred, the case was handled under juvenile criminal law.

The number of murder counts corresponded to the number of people prosecutors determined were killed at Stutthof during the period of Dey's service.

Dey acknowledged having served as a guard but disputed his criminal responsibility. The prosecution nevertheless argued that his presence and duties helped maintain the camp system in which prisoners were murdered.

The case represented a significant development in Germany's continuing efforts to prosecute surviving participants in the Nazi camp system.

Nazi Prosecutions Continue After More Than 80 Years

The legal foundation for pursuing Nazi-era murder cases remains in place because Germany abolished the statute of limitations for murder in 1979. Section 78 of the German Criminal Code states that murder under Section 211 is not subject to a statute of limitations.

The modern prosecutions have also been influenced by legal precedents involving former camp guards. German courts have increasingly considered whether participation in the functioning of a Nazi concentration camp can establish accessory liability for murders committed there, even when prosecutors cannot prove that an individual personally killed a particular victim.

That approach has allowed prosecutors to pursue cases that might have been impossible under earlier standards requiring evidence linking an accused person to a specific killing.

The Remaining Question of Justice and History

The latest investigation involving the 105-year-old Stalag 326 suspect may ultimately face the same obstacles that have affected other Nazi prosecutions: advanced age, health concerns, fading memories and the deaths of potential witnesses.

Yet these cases also have a historical dimension. Court proceedings can establish records about camps, victims and the roles played by people within the Nazi system at a time when living witnesses are disappearing.

The prosecutions of Josef Schütz, Irmgard Furchner and Bruno Dey, together with the latest investigation at Stalag 326 VI K, show that Germany's legal system continues to examine responsibility for the crimes committed during World War II.

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