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The former Auschwitz guard charged with 300,000 counts of accessory to murder was reduced to tears by the testimony of survivors at the resumption of his trial in Germany.
Oskar Gröning, known as the “bookmaker of Auschwitz” for his role in sorting through and noting down prisoners’ valuables, has been deemed fit to face court after recovering from an infection.
The 93-year-old is due to hear from 49 co-plaintiffs who, under German law, will speak in court to represent the interests of those killed in the Nazi death camp when Mr Gröning was an SS guard there in 1944.
On Tuesday the court heard from Kathleen Zahavi, 86, who had travelled from Canada to describe how her “happy childhood” was destroyed by the Nazis and she saw her mother and aunt led away to be executed.
Gröning was visibly moved by proceedings on Tuesday (EPA) Detailing how she and her family were brought to Auschwitz in horrific conditions and “treated worse than animals”, she was separated from her older relatives because they were deemed too old to work.
Once at the camp, Ms Zahavi said, she asked a guard where her parents were. “She pointed to smoke swirling from a chimney and said, ‘Do you see that? That is where your parents are.’”
Mr Gröning was visibly distressed by the testimony in court. Ms Zahavi told him: “I hope the images of what went on there will stay with you for the rest of your days. You were allowed in your freedom to grow old. My parents weren't allowed that.”
According to the DPA news agency, the trial at the Lüneburg state court in northern Germany will be limited to three-hour sessions a day because of the defendant’s age and health.
One session was cut short last week, and then the following day's proceedings were cancelled, after the court said Mr Gröning was too sick to stand trial.
Show all 29 1 /29Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Auschwitz death camp survivor Zofia Wareluk, 70, poses for a portrait in Warsaw January 12, 2015. Wareluk was born in Auschwitz two weeks before the camp was liberated. Her mother was sent to Auschwitz when she was four months pregnant. As the liberation of Auschwitz approaches its 70th anniversary this month, Reuters photographers took portraits of now elderly survivors. About 1.5 million people, most of them Jews, were killed at the Nazi camp which has became a symbol of the horrors of the Holocaust and World War Two, which ravaged Europe. The camp was liberated by Soviet Red Army troops on January 27, 1945 and about 200,000 camp inmates survived.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Auschwitz death camp survivor Barbara Doniecka, 80, who was registered with camp number 86341, poses for a photo in Warsaw January 12, 2015. Doniecka was 12-years-old during the Warsaw Uprising when she was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau with her mother. As the liberation of Auschwitz approaches its 70th anniversary this month, Reuters photographers took portraits of now elderly survivors. About 1.5 million people, most of them Jews, were killed at the Nazi camp which has became a symbol of the horrors of the Holocaust and World War Two, which ravaged Europe. The camp was liberated by Soviet Red Army troops on January 27, 1945 and about 200,000 camp inmates survived
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Doniecka holds up wartime photo of herself.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Auschwitz death camp survivor Imre Varsanyi, 86, holds up a photo of fellow survivors during World War Two, as he poses for a portrait in Budapest January 12, 2015. Varsanyi was 14-years-old when he and his family were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was the only member of his family to survive. After the war Varsanyi did not talk about Auschwitz for 60 years because he felt ashamed of having survived. As the liberation of Auschwitz approaches its 70th anniversary this month, Reuters photographers took portraits of now elderly survivors. About 1.5 million people, most of them Jews, were killed at the Nazi camp which has became a symbol of the horrors of the Holocaust and World War Two, which ravaged Europe. The camp was liberated by Soviet Red Army troops on January 27, 1945 and about 200,000 camp inmates survived.
REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Auschwitz death camp survivor Jerzy Ulatowski, 83, who was registered with camp number 192823, poses for a photo in Warsaw January 12, 2015. Ulatowski was taken by train to Auschwitz-Birkenau when he was 13-years-old. In January 1945 he managed to escape with his family, as there was a lack of power in the barbed wire surrounding the camp. As the liberation of Auschwitz approaches its 70th anniversary this month, Reuters photographers took portraits of now elderly survivors. About 1.5 million people, most of them Jews, were killed at the Nazi camp which has became a symbol of the horrors of the Holocaust and World War Two, which ravaged Europe. The camp was liberated by Soviet Red Army troops on January 27, 1945 and about 200,000 camp inmates survived.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Auschwitz death camp survivor Erzsebet Brodt, 89, poses for a portrait in Budapest January 12, 2015. Brodt was 17-years-old when she was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau along with her family. Remembering the journey to the camp she said that those who were "sick or about to give birth were forced out and put into one wagon. When the wagon was opened in Auschwitz we saw that everyone was dead inside." As the liberation of Auschwitz approaches its 70th anniversary this month, Reuters photographers took portraits of now elderly survivors. About 1.5 million people, most of them Jews, were killed at the Nazi camp which has became a symbol of the horrors of the Holocaust and World War Two, which ravaged Europe. The camp was liberated by Soviet Red Army troops on January 27, 1945 and about 200,000 camp inmates survived.
REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Brodt holds a picture of her family, who were killed in the concentration camp during World War Two.
REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Jacek Nadolny, 77, who was registered with camp number 192685, poses for a portrait in Warsaw January 7, 2015. Nadolny was seven during the Warsaw Uprising, when he was sent with his family to Auschwitz-Birkenau by train. In January 1945 the family was moved to a labour camp in Berlin.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Nadolny holds up a wartime photo of his family.
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Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Laszlo Bernath, 87, poses for a portrait in Budapest January 12, 2015. Bernath credits his father being a practical man with his survival of Auschwitz. He was 15 when they were taken but his father told him to lie about his age so that they would not be separated. Even whilst in the camp, Bernath had no idea about the gas chambers.
REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Bernath holds up a picture of his family, who were all killed in the concentration camp during World War Two.
REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Janina Reklajtis, 80, who was registered with camp number 83043, holds a photo of herself taken during the war as she poses for a portrait in Warsaw January 7, 2015. Reklajtis was 12-years-old during the Warsaw Uprising when she and her mother were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were sent to a labour camp in Berlin in January 1945 and were kept there until they were liberated.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Danuta Bogdaniuk-Bogucka (maiden name Kaminska), 80, poses for a portrait in Warsaw January 5, 2015. Bogdaniuk-Bogucka was 10-years-old when she was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau camp with her mother. Bogdaniuk-Bogucka was part of Josef Mengele's experiments when she was in Auschwitz. After the war she met her mother again and they discovered they had both been at Ravensbruck camp at the same time, but they had not realised this.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Maria Stroinska, 82, gestures as she poses for a portrait in Warsaw January 12, 2015. Stroinska was 12-years-old during the Warsaw Uprising when she and her sister were sent from their house to a camp in Pruszkow before she was moved alone by train to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Stroinska holds a family photo taken before the war.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Janos Forgacs, 87, holds a document as he poses for a portrait in Budapest January 12, 2015. Forgacs recalls that he was in a group transported to a camp in a cattle wagon, with the windows sealed with barbed wire. An military officer told them to hand over their belongings, telling them they would not need them anymore.
REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Bogdan Bartnikowski, 82, who was registered with camp number 192731, poses for a portrait in Warsaw December 18, 2014. Bartnikowski was 12-years-old during the Warsaw Uprising, when he and his mother were sent to Auschwitz Birkenau camp. They were moved between camps several times. After the war Bartnikowski worked as a pilot and then became a journalist and writer.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Bartnikowski holds a family photograph.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Henryk Duszyk, 80, who was registered with camp number 192692, poses for a portrait in Warsaw January 12, 2015. Duszyk was 10-years-old during the Warsaw Uprising in August, 1944. He was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau with his father, brother and stepmother. The family were separated and Duszyk only saw his father once more before he was killed at the camp. Duszyk, his brother and stepmother were kept at Auschwitz-Birkenau until the camp was liberated.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Halina Brzozowska, 82, who was registered with camp number 86356, poses for a portrait in Warsaw January 12, 2015. Brzozowska was 12-years-old during the Warsaw Uprising when her family were sent to a camp in Pruszkow, she and her 6-year-old sister were then moved by train to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Brzozowska said that it was hard to say what had happened to them, that they were taken from their homes, family and lost their childhood.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Brzozowska holds a picture of herself which was taken during the war.
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Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Lajos Erdelyi, 87, holds a drawing made by a campmate as he poses for a portrait in Budapest on January 13, 2015. Erdelyi was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau in May 1944 and was later moved to another camp. When he was freed he weighed under 30kg, but tried to walk home. He collapsed, and was taken to a hospital by a farmer.
REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Stefan Sot, 83, who was registered with camp number 192705, poses for a portrait in Warsaw January 5, 2015. Sot was 13-years-old during the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, when he was sent from his home to a camp in Pruszkow prior to being sent by train to Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. He was later moved to a labour sub-camp, where he worked in a kitchen for S.S. officers. After the war he worked as a typesetter at a printing house.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Sot holds a picture of himself taken during the war.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Elzbieta Sobczynska (maiden name Gremblicka), 80, who was registered with camp number 85536, gestures as she poses for a portrait in Warsaw January 7, 2015. During the Warsaw Uprising, when Sobczynska was 10-years-old, she was sent with her mother and brother from their home to a camp in Pruszkow and then moved by train to Auschwitz-Birkenau. There they were separated into blocks for woman, girls and boys. Sobczynska said that she was robbed of her childhood, and lost the chance to experience a different kind of life.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Sobczynska holds her father's watch, which was kept by her brother while they were in the camp.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Eva Fahidi, 90, holds a picture of her family, who were all killed in the concentration camp during World War Two, as she poses for a portrait in Budapest January 12, 2015. Fahidi was 18 in 1944 when she and her family were moved from Debrecen to Auschwitz-Birkenau.
REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Jadwiga Bogucka (maiden name Regulska), 89, who was registered with camp number 86356, poses for a portrait in Warsaw January 12, 2015. During the Warsaw Uprising in August, 1944, when Bogucka was 19, she and her mother were sent from their house to a camp in Pruszkow and then moved on August 12, 1944 by train to Auschwitz-Birkenau. They were liberated by the Red Army on January 27, 1945.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Beautiful portraits of survival show Auschwitz prisoners 70 years later Auschwitz survivors, 70 years on Bogucka holds a picture of herself from 1944.
REUTERS/Kacper Pempel
Mr Gröning faces a possible three to 15 years in prison if convicted. He admits his role in accounting for prisoners’ belongings at Auschwitz, and prosecutors argue that his doing so helped the death camp to function.
The trial, which is scheduled to run at least through July and could be extended due to the delays, continues.
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