SWC: Appeal by Convicted Secretary of Stutthof Commandant is Insult to Memory of Victims

December 28, 2022

Jerusalem-The Simon Wiesenthal Center today harshly criticized the appeal recently filed by Irmgard Furchner, who last week was convicted of accessory to murder in 10,500 cases of inmates of the Stutthof concentration camp who died or were murdered during her service as the secretary to the camp commandant Paul-Werner Hoppe, from June 1943 to April 1945.

Furchner, who was tried in a juvenile court due to the fact that she was younger than 21-years old during her service in Stutthof, was given a suspended two-year jail sentence for her role as an accessory to murder. Thus despite her conviction for her service in the camp, where over 60,000 were murdered, she was allowed to return to her home and was not sent to jail, although she was convicted of accessory to murder in thousands of cases.

According to the Center's chief Nazi-hunter, Holocaust historian Dr. Efraim Zuroff, Furchner's appeal is totally unwarranted and unjust.

"This female criminal was lucky to be spared any incarceration, in view of her role in the deaths of over 10,000 innocent victims. Her attempt to get her conviction cancelled is an insult to the memory of those who died in Stutthof. To acquit this accomplice in the murder of innocent victims is akin to erasing the memory of the crimes she helped commit, and the memory of those who perished."

For additional information please contact the Israel Office of the Wiesenthal Center: Tel: 972-2-563-1274 or Tel: 972-50-721-4156, follow the Center on Facebook, or @simonwiesenthal and @EZuroff for news updates sent directly to your Twitter feed.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).