Hubert Zafke was a Nazi S.S. medic who served in several concentration camps during the second world war. After serving 3 years in prison following the war, Zafke settled in Gnevkow, Germany where he married and raised four sons and worked in an agricultural company. However, 71 years after the end of the war, following preliminary investigations by the central office for the investigation of Nazi crimes Zafke stood trial for 3861 counts of accessory to murder. After a lengthy trial delayed multiple times by Zafke's failing health, the trial was dropped as Zafke was found to be unfit for trial.
Early life
Ernst Hubert Zafke was born on the 26th of September 1920 in Pomerania to a farming family. He grew up on his parents’ farm, attended elementary school and joined an agricultural college. He joined the Hitler Youth in 1933 at age 13 and 6 years later, at the age of 19, the Waffen SS.
From 1940 to 1944, Zafke served as a paramedic with the SS. He trained at a medical school which belonged to the Dachau concentration camp facility. From 1942 to 1943, Zafke served at the Neuengamme concentration camp, where he worked as a medic. There, he was promoted to Unterscharführer. From 15 August to 14 September 1944, Zafke served at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland. During this period, 14 deportation trains arrived at Auschwitz, and 3,861 Jews were murdered in Auschwitz's gas chambers. On September 26, Zafke left along with 400 Jewish women to Neustadt concentration camp. Zafke had left prior to the liberation of the camp by Soviet forces. After the war ended in 1945, Zafke was arrested by British troops stationed in West Germany and handed over to the Polish government. As he was a member of the SS, he was sentenced on the 10th of March 1948 by the Kraków district court to 4 years in prison. After being released from prison Zafke settled in Gnevkow, a small village in northeastern Germany. He married and had four sons. Working in a company specializing in agricultural products and pesticides, he lived a normal life in Germany. Though he was questioned by the authorities several times, his identity was never questioned and he lived a normal life in occupied Germany.
Retrial
Following the fall of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany, many archived records were made accessible to the public. Thus, Zafke and many other former Nazis came onto the radar of Nazi hunters. In 2013, German federal prosecutors began another investigation into Nazi members who had served in concentration camps, such as Zafke. In 2016, Zafke was arrested and charged with 3,861 counts of accessory to murder. The charges were focused only on the time he served at Auschwitz-Birkenau, from August 15 to September 14, 1944. For the first time, official evidence and eyewitnesses were not necessary, as official records had already proven that Zafke had indeed served at Auschwitz and that was enough evidence to prove Zafke knew about the murders. According to the Daily Mail, Zafke does not deny his service at Auschwitz, instead claiming that 'I heard nothing, saw nothing, killed no one'. Zafke was scheduled to stand trial in February 2016; however, this was overturned by the Judge who decided that Zafke's various medical issues made him unfit for trial. This order was again overturned by the Court of Appeals, stating that Zafke was indeed physically able to stand trial. The main highlight of the trial was that as Zafke had served at Auschwitz and knew about the murders that were continuously occurring in the facility's gas chambers. Several previous trials had been conducted previously in this fashion, including the trials of John Demjanjuk in 2011, Reinhold Hanning in 2016 and the trial of Oskar Gröning in 2015. However, Zafke's lawyers argue that Zafke, who suffers from dementia and depression due to late-stage Alzheimer's disease, is unfit for trial. After numerous delays caused by Zafke's failing health, the trial was set for October 16, 2016. However, this was further delayed due to Zafke's health. In June 2017, three judges responsible for repeatedly delaying the trial due to Zafke's failing health were removed after multiple complaints of bias. However, after two examinations in March and July 2017, the case was dropped as Zafke was deemed unfit for trial. According to the BBC, a court spokesperson stated that "the defendant is no longer able to reasonably assess his interests".
