Nazi hit man faces charges in ’44 deaths
A German prosecutor has filed new murder charges against an admitted Nazi hit man who has avoided jail for nearly six decades despite being convicted in the Netherlands of killing civilians in reprisal for Resistance attacks during World War II.
Dortmund prosecutor Ulrich Maass said the charges involved the 1944 murders of three Dutchmen while Heinrich Boere, now 86, was a member of a Waffen SS death squad.
Boere has acknowledged involvement in the killings, but describes them as a reality of wartime. The retirement home where he lives said he checked into a hospital early this week.
Though Boere was sentenced to death in absentia by a Dutch court in 1949 -- later commuted to life imprisonment -- German courts have blocked attempts to extradite him to the Netherlands or enforce the verdict in Germany.
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