AN ex-Nazi aged 97 who was involved in a notorious World War Two massacre is being investigated for claiming the SS “did nothing criminal”.
Karl Münter, who has so far escaped justice for committing crimes against humanity also said he “had the right to shoot” civilians.
Münter has also disputed the six million Jewish death toll during the war and said he was nostalgic for the Third Reich.
His comments have sparked outrage in Germany and now a hate speech investigation has been launched under the country’s Volksverhetzung law, which aims to prosecute incitement to racial hatred.
If convicted, Münter could be jailed for five years, effectively meaning he would die behind bars.
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
In April 1944 he was involved in the massacre of 86 French men and boys in the village of Ascq in northern France.
The mass murder was in revenge for a derailed train packed with Hitler Youth which had been attacked by members of the Resistance.
During the time Münter was a member of an SS that carried out the outrage — but he has got off scot-free.
Adding to the outrage, he told a German TV programme last year: “If I arrest the men I’m responsible for them. And if they run away I have the right to shoot them.”
When asked if he had an regrets he said: “No, not at all!
“Why should I regret it I didn’t fire a shot.”
‘REGRETS? NOT AT ALL’
Münter added: “And the matter of the Jews that is attributed to (Hitler)… be careful.
“There weren’t millions of Jews (in Germany) at the time, that’s already been disproved.
“This number — six million — is not correct.”
After the war nine of the 17 involved were put on trial in Lille, France, but Münter had not been rounded up and was tried in his absence.
But he will never face justice as the French 20 year statute of limitations has expired and EU citizens cannot be prosecuted for crimes if they have already been convicted for them in other states.
What happened in the April 1944 Ascq massacre?
Several months before the allied D-Day invasion of northern France, members of the Resistance detonated explosives on a railway track near Lille.
This derailed a train carrying a battalion from the 12th Waffen SS armoured division of the Hitler youth.
No-one was hurt but Lt Walter Hauck, who was in charge of the transport, ordered an SS reprisal attack on the nearby village of Ascq.
Late at night a squad dragged 86 men and boys from their homes to the railway.
They were then lined up and shot in cold blood.
After the war 17 suspects in the massacre were identified, including Walter Hauck and Karl Münter,
But only eight were tried in 1949 and sentenced to death while the others could not be traced and were tried in absentia.
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