Irmgard Furchner, known as the 'Secretary of Evil,' passed away at the age of 99 on January 14, as reported by the Daily Record. Furchner, one of the last individuals convicted of Nazi war crimes in Germany, died in a nursing home in Quickborn, Germany, where she had been living since 2017.
From June 1943 to April 1945, Furchner worked at the Nazi camp Stuttho as a stenographer, where about 110,000 people from 28 countries were imprisoned, and almost 65,000 of those did not survive. Stutthof was constructed in September 1939 near the present-day village of Sztutowo in Poland and was synonymous with atrocities during World War II.
In December 2022, Furchner was found guilty of aiding and abetting the murder of 10,505 prisoners at Stutthof and was sentenced to two years' probation due to her age. The Federal Court of Justice in Leipzig upheld the verdict in August of last year, confirming her conviction for aiding and abetting murder in numerous cases.
The court found that Furchner had supported mass murder and aided in the systematic killing of inmates. According to the court's conviction, "almost all of the camp's correspondence passed over Irmgard F.'s desk." She was considered a close confidante of the camp commandant Paul Werner Hoppe and was responsible for his correspondence, including stenography and transferring reports to the SS headquarters.
During her trial, it was proven that Furchner, as a secretary in the camp commander's office, was aware of the atrocities occurring in the camp. From her workplace, "Irmgard F. could see part of the camp grounds, saw the chimney of the crematorium, and knew about the miserable condition of the prisoners."
Despite her role, Furchner remained silent about the allegations but eventually expressed regret for her presence at Stutthof. "I am sorry for what happened. I regret that I was in Stutthof in those days. I cannot say more," she said, according to the Daily Record.
Holocaust survivors and witnesses testified during the trial, revealing accounts of their suffering and refuting the defense's claims that Furchner did not know what was happening. "This trial serves the purpose of letting the public know that there is no limitation of time for crimes of such cruelty or magnitude," said Manfred Goldberg, who survived eight months at Stutthof as a slave worker, according to the Daily Record.
The prosecution argued that Furchner aided "those responsible for the camp in carrying out the systematic murder of Jewish prisoners, Polish partisans, and Soviet prisoners of war." The court found that she had provided both physical and psychological assistance through her willingness to serve and that through her service, she showed solidarity with the main perpetrators, rendering her actions no longer neutral.
Furchner was tried under juvenile criminal law because she was only 18 years old at the time of the crimes. The trial, referred to as the 'Stutthof Trial,' began on September 30, 2021, before the district court and lasted 14 months, receiving attention as it was possibly the last Nazi trial.
In autumn 2021, the start of the trial was delayed because Furchner fled from her nursing home to Hamburg before the first hearing. Police officers apprehended her on foot in Hamburg. The court placed the then 96-year-old in pre-trial detention for five days.
After her conviction, Furchner was not required to serve her sentence in prison due to her age. She continued to live in the nursing home until her death.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
