Today, Monday, May 23, 2022, attorney Thomas Walther pleads before the Regional Court of Neuruppin, sitting in Brandenburg, in the trial of concentration camp guard Josef Schütz, who is charged with aiding and abetting the murder of 3518 prisoners in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

However, the significance of the plea of Thomas Walther, who has been associated with the International Auschwitz Committee for many years, extends far beyond this trial:Walther describes in oppressive words the horrific images and painful experiences, reaching into the present day, that he has repeatedly encountered in his work with survivors of the German concentration and extermination camps and their relatives, and at the same time analyzes the gloomy picture and the neglect of duty of the German postwar justice system, which "forgot" the files on the perpetrators in the archives for long decades.And so the plea of this very special lawyer is a personal résumé of his work as a lawyer and at the same time a historical document that bears witness to how Thomas Walther became a friend and advocate of the survivors, who through him and his credibility were only able to find ways back to Germany.For all these reasons, we are publishing Thomas Walther's plea today in Hebrew, French, English and German and thank all translators for their cooperation.

Download of the plea:

English

German

French

Hebrew