• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Former Nazi ‘Secretary of Evil’ speaks out for the first time at age 97

Home> News

Published 20:36 7 Dec 2022 GMT

Former Nazi ‘Secretary of Evil’ speaks out for the first time at age 97

She claims she did not know about the Holocaust as it was happening.

Emma Guinness

Emma Guinness

A 97-year-old Nazi has spoken out for the first time as she stands trial for aiding and abetting the murder of over 11,000 people.

Known as the 'Secretary of Evil', Irmgard Furchner, now 97, apologised this week for her actions at Sutthof concentration camp between 1943 and 1945.

She is currently standing trial for her role in the deaths of over 11,412 people and the attempted murder of 18 more during the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Poland.

The 97-year-old is being tried as a juvenile because she was under 21 at the time.
Alamy / REUTERS

Advert

"I'm sorry for everything that happened," Furchner told the Itzehoe Regional Court on Tuesday (6 December).

She is currently standing trial as part of a policy under German law to prosecute everyone involved in the atrocities - regardless of their age.

"I regret that I was at Stutthof at that time," she added.

The 97-year-old is the first person to be tried in years for her actions during World War Two.

Advert

However, as she was under 21 at the time, she is being tried as a juvenile for the work she did between June 1943 and April 1945.

Furchner had previously protested her innocence when reprimanded for her actions, claiming that she had no knowledge of the mass slaughter taking place at the camp.

This claim came despite her being in daily communication with its commander, Paul Werner Hoppe, for whom she worked as secretary.

Further doubt was shed on it by her husband's 1954 testimony which proved that he knew people were being gassed at the camp.

Advert

But despite this, the 97-year-old's lawyers are arguing that the 'Secretary of Evil' should be acquitted for her actions more than half a century ago as it cannot be proved that she knew 'beyond the shadow of a doubt' about the slaughter.

Those prosecuting, however, believe that she should be handed a two-year suspended sentence for her role in the deaths of over 11,000 people.

Furchner denied having knowledge of the slaughter taking place at the camp.
Alamy / REUTERS

The verdict in Furchner's trial will be announced on 10 December.

Advert

One of the camp's survivors, Risa Silbert, 93, testified in August of this year to its brutality - revealing that its inmates became so desperate that they resorted to cannibalism.

"Stutthof was hell," she said.

"We had cannibalism … people were hungry and they cut up the corpses and they wanted to take out the liver."

Silbert said that it would have been impossible for Furchner not to know about the slaughter that took place at the camp.

Advert

"If she worked as the commander's secretary, then she knew exactly what happened," she added.

Featured Image Credit: REUTERS / mauritius images GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo

Topics: News, Germany, World War 2

Emma Guinness
Emma Guinness

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Former Miss Universe contestant Kseniya Alexandrova dies aged 30 in freak accident involving elk as husband speaks out
  • Luigi Mangione speaks out for the first time from prison after killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO
  • Man who lured victims for the 'Candy Man' serial killer speaks out for the first time
  • Liam Payne's ex fiancée speaks out for first time in heartbreaking statement following his death

Choose your content:

29 mins ago
an hour ago
  • 29 mins ago

    Terrifying clip shows infamous serial killer Richard Ramirez's eerie response when asked why he killed people

    Ramirez earned the name The Night Stalker as he attacked and killed victims in Los Angeles

    News
  • an hour ago

    Death row inmate makes chilling request as he awaits execution for murdering girlfriend

    Scotty Gardner went gambling with two of his friends after strangling his girlfriend Heather Stubbs to death with a cord from a curling iron

    News
  • an hour ago

    Woman claims she ‘cured her bipolar disorder’ by transplanting partner’s poop inside of her

    Jane has described how much bipolar disorder 'stole' from her and the measures she took to overcome it

    News
  • an hour ago

    United Airlines passenger sparks major ‘plane pooping’ debate after witnessing nasty act of ‘class warfare’

    People live in fear of having to poop on airplanes

    News