A former SS official accused of complicity in the deportation and murder of Rumanian Jews during World War II has gone on trial in Frankenthal. According to the State Prosecutor, Gustav Richter, 69, contributed to the “final solution” when he served as an aide to the official responsible for the “Jewish question” in Rumania.
According to the prosecution, the Reich Foreign Ministry assigned Richter to Bucharest in August 1942 to convince the Rumanian authorities to accept a plan that would treat Rumanian Jews in the same manner as Jews were treated in Germany. As a result of Richter’s activities, two transports were organized and a total of 1323 Rumanian Jews were rounded up and deported in September 1942. Of this group, 646 perished in Auschwitz.
Richter, who joined the Nazi Party in 1934 and belonged to the SS, was taken prisoner by the Russians in 1944 and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. But he was freed in 1955 and returned to West Germany where he worked for a Ludwigshafen firm until his retirement in 1974. His trial is expected to last a minimum of six days and a verdict is expected in November.
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