Ex-Journalist on Trial in Deaths at Nazi Camp
An 82-year-old retired journalist went on trial Monday, accused of gunning down seven Jewish concentration camp inmates during World War II, one of the last German Nazi war crimes suspects likely to face justice.
Julius Viel, a second lieutenant in a Nazi SS unit during the war, is charged with seven counts of murder. As the trial began, he angrily denied prosecution charges that he shot the inmates at the Theresienstadt camp in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1945.
“It is an incredible impertinence,” said the white-haired Viel, countering allegations by a former subordinate who accused him of the killings and is expected to testify next week.
The victims from a nearby Gestapo jail were among prisoners forced to dig a tank trap as a defense against advancing Soviet forces. Viel confirmed that he helped oversee the work but testified that he was not in the area when the killings took place.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
