Germany: 97-year-old former Nazi camp secretary appeals against conviction

A 97-year-old former Nazi concentration camp secretary will appeal against her conviction, according to a German court.

Irmgard Furchner was found guilty last week of being an accessory to 10,505 murders at the Stutthof camp during World War II.

She was also convicted of being an accessory to attempted murder in five cases and handed a two-year suspended sentence.

But Furchner has said she would appeal against the verdict of the Itzehoe state court.

A lawyer for a co-plaintiff has separately filed an appeal to the Federal Court of Justice.

• Former Nazi death camp secretary, 96, found after going 'on the run’ on day of trial

• Former Nazi concentration camp secretary guilty of accessory to 10,505 murders

Under German law, anyone who helped Nazi death camps and concentration camps function can be prosecuted as an accessory to murders committed there.

Furchner was a secretary to the commander of the Stutthof camp near Danzig --now the Polish city of Gdansk -- between June 1943 and April 1945.

But defence lawyers have argued that she did not know about the systematic killings at the camp and that there was no proof of intent as required for criminal liability.

The Itzehoe court judge had found that it was "unimaginable" that Furchner did not know about the murders.