The last-known Nazi concentration camp guard due to face trial in Germany has died — just before he could be held to account for his alleged role in one of the Third Reich’s most horrific killing machines.

Gregor Formanek, a former SS guard at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, was accused of aiding and abetting the murder of 3,322 people, including prisoners of war, Jews, and political detainees. 

But on April 2, 2025, aged 100, he died — ending the case before it ever reached court. 

His death was confirmed by the Hanau Regional Court this week, which had been preparing to retry the case after a higher court overturned an earlier decision declaring him unfit to stand trial.

The Frankfurt Higher Regional Court had slammed the original medical assessment as inadequate and ordered fresh investigations into Formanek’s health, demanding that the Hanau Youth Chamber re-examine the evidence.

Formanek, who was a teenager during his time at the camp, was to be tried under juvenile law, but his advanced age had complicated proceedings. 

Gregor Formanek, 100, was accused of helping to murder 3,322 people at the notorious WW2 prison Sachsenhausen while working there between July 1943 and February 1945

Gregor Formanek, 100, was accused of helping to murder 3,322 people at the notorious WW2 prison Sachsenhausen while working there between July 1943 and February 1945 

Pictured: Roll call in the early morning or late evening hours in front of the gate of the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen

Pictured: Roll call in the early morning or late evening hours in front of the gate of the Nazi concentration camp Sachsenhausen

A bedroom for inmates at the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp site of the Sachsenhausen memorial in Oranienburg, Germany

A bedroom for inmates at the former Sachsenhausen concentration camp site of the Sachsenhausen memorial in Oranienburg, Germany

Critics say those delays played right into the hands of old men avoiding justice.

‘He helped kill thousands,’ said one co-plaintiff. ‘He lived free for 80 years. The victims never had that chance.’

The case had been closely watched as possibly the last major Nazi war crimes trial in German history. 

Formanek’s death now means no one will answer for these 3,322 murders.

Sachsenhausen, located near Berlin, was the site of mass executions, forced labour, starvation, torture, and medical experiments. 

At least 100,000 people died there between 1936 and 1945.

Formanek was accused of actively supporting the operation of the killing system — but avoided prosecution for decades.

In 2023 the Hanau court refused to open the trial, citing a medical expert’s opinion that Formanek was too frail.

It is estimated that 200,000 prisoners passed through Sachsenhausen and that 30,000 people were murdered there, not including Soviet prisoners (pictured: some of the prisoners at the camp)

It is estimated that 200,000 prisoners passed through Sachsenhausen and that 30,000 people were murdered there, not including Soviet prisoners (pictured: some of the prisoners at the camp)

A file image of the entrance tower of the former concentration camp Sachsenhausen in Oranienburg, Germany

A file image of the entrance tower of the former concentration camp Sachsenhausen in Oranienburg, Germany

The case was revived only after recent legal shifts allowed Germany to pursue anyone involved in the functioning of a death camp, regardless of direct action.

But like many before him, Formanek took the truth to the grave.

With his death, prosecutors must now drop the case. The Hanau court called it an ‘irreversible procedural obstacle.’

Formanek had lived undetected for decades in a modest flat near Frankfurt, until reporters tracked him down last year – but the former camp guard remained silent on the allegations against him.

Born in September 1924 in Romania to a German-speaking tailor, Formanek joined the SS on July 4, 1943, and became part of the Sachsenhausen guard battalion in Brandenburg.

One Stasi document chillingly notes that Formanek ‘continued to kill prisoners’.

Holocaust survivor Jurek Szarf, 90, vividly recounted the brutal treatment prisoners endured at Sachsenhausen.

Deported at age ten to Ravensbrueck with his aunt and mother, Jurek was later transferred to Koenigs Wusterhausen and then Sachsenhausen.

His mother starved to death in the Wusterhausen concentration camp in February 1945.

‘I was in the hospital block in Sachsenhausen with my father and my uncle and was supposed to be shot. We waited for hours for the execution, then we were freed,’ Mr Szarf told German newspaper Bild about being freed in April 1945 aged 12. 

He was deported to Sachsenhausen from the other concentration camp where he was held just days before he was freed.

Gregor Formanek's service as an SS guard is confirmed by a document from the Main Personnel Office of the SS

Gregor Formanek’s service as an SS guard is confirmed by a document from the Main Personnel Office of the SS

The infamous "Work Sets You Free" sign at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp gates, picture on the memorial service in January 2019

The infamous ‘Work Sets You Free’ sign at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp gates, picture on the memorial service in January 2019

Built in 1936 to house high-ranking political prisoners, Sachsenhausen is the camp where the Nazis perfected killing methods that were scaled up and used to murder millions at larger and more notorious camps such as Auschwitz (pictured: prisoners at Sachsenhausen)

Built in 1936 to house high-ranking political prisoners, Sachsenhausen is the camp where the Nazis perfected killing methods that were scaled up and used to murder millions at larger and more notorious camps such as Auschwitz (pictured: prisoners at Sachsenhausen)

Mr Szarf said: ‘The SS drove the prisoners from Sachsenhausen on a long march to escape the approaching Red Army. My father, my uncle and I were too weak to march.

‘Two other uncles went with us. One was shot by SS guards, the other was beaten to death.’

After the war, Formanek was arrested by the Red Army and sentenced by a Soviet military tribunal to 25 years in prison for espionage and crimes against humanity.

Released after ten years, he moved to West Germany and lived quietly as a porter.

Germany has been scrambling to bring the last surviving former Nazi war criminals to justice since a 2011 landmark ruling paved the way for several trials. 

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