Pole charged with helping Nazi genocide

Prosecutors charged a 77-year-old Pole yesterday with helping Nazi German occupiers in the mass murder of Jews during the Second World War.

Prosecutors charged a 77-year-old Pole yesterday with helping Nazi German occupiers in the mass murder of Jews during the Second World War.

It was the first indictment in Poland for Nazi-related war crimes since 1973. The man, identified only as Henryk M, was detained on Thursday by police in Szczecin. The crime carries a life sentence.

"Henryk M faces charges of co-operating with Nazi occupiers and taking part in genocide against Jews and other nations," the prosecutor general said in a statement.

He is alleged to have helped exterminate Jews in the Chelmno concentration camp between 1941 and 1943. Many Jews were killed in camps such as Chelmno, in eastern Poland, where the Nazis would load their victims inside trucks and suffocate them with exhaust fumes. ( Reuters)