A Germany court convicted a former member of the Adolf Hitler’s Waffen SS on Tuesday. The 88-year-old, Heinrich Boere, was given the maximum sentence of life in prison for killing three Dutch civilians during World War II.
Boere, who joined the SS at the age of 18, admitted killing the bicycle shop owner, a pharmacist, and a businessman in 1944 as a member of a Nazi hit squad, an SS unit responsible for reprisal killings.
“These were murders that could hardly be outdone in terms of baseness and cowardice—beyond the respectability of any soldier,” said Judge Gerd Nohl, according to AP.
The former Nazi defended himself by claiming that he just followed orders, but the prosecutor argued that he was a willing member of the Waffen SS unit.
Heinrich Boere came to the courtroom in a wheelchair, and stared at the floor during the proceedings.
After the war, Boere was sentenced to death in the Netherlands in absentia, which was later commuted to life imprisonment, while he was already living in Germany.
The son of a Dutch father and a German mother, Boere moved to the Netherlands when he was an infant. German courts refused to extradite him due to the claim that he has a right to a German citizenship. According to international law, German citizens cannot not be extradited from Germany.
Boere had been working as a coal miner until 1976, and then lived in a nursing home after retirement. Tuesday’s verdict comes more than 60 years after the Dutch court convicted him of war crimes.
Boere, who joined the SS at the age of 18, admitted killing the bicycle shop owner, a pharmacist, and a businessman in 1944 as a member of a Nazi hit squad, an SS unit responsible for reprisal killings.
“These were murders that could hardly be outdone in terms of baseness and cowardice—beyond the respectability of any soldier,” said Judge Gerd Nohl, according to AP.
The former Nazi defended himself by claiming that he just followed orders, but the prosecutor argued that he was a willing member of the Waffen SS unit.
Heinrich Boere came to the courtroom in a wheelchair, and stared at the floor during the proceedings.
After the war, Boere was sentenced to death in the Netherlands in absentia, which was later commuted to life imprisonment, while he was already living in Germany.
The son of a Dutch father and a German mother, Boere moved to the Netherlands when he was an infant. German courts refused to extradite him due to the claim that he has a right to a German citizenship. According to international law, German citizens cannot not be extradited from Germany.
Boere had been working as a coal miner until 1976, and then lived in a nursing home after retirement. Tuesday’s verdict comes more than 60 years after the Dutch court convicted him of war crimes.
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