Auschwitz death camp ‘final investigation’ begins in Poland

The action marks the formal closure of proceedings that began in the 1970s, and is being carried out by the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), the state body charged with investigating crimes against Polish citizens.

About 500 survivors of the Nazi-run camp are still alive, many of whom will be interviewed over the coming days.

Piotr Piatek of the Krakow branch of IPN told the Polish Press Agency that if new light is thrown on war criminals, cases might still be brought to the law courts.

“We cannot exclude the possibility that someone from the staff of Auschwitz-Birkenau is still alive,” he said, “in which case, he would be responsible for crimes against the Polish nation.”

The investigation will gatherer material on the day-to-day organisation of camp life, data concerning both detainees and functionaries in the camp hierarchy, the system of forced labour and medical experiments conducted on inmates.

There will also be an attempt to finalise the number of victims who died in the death camp.

The action concludes a suspended investigation begun in the 1970s under the auspices of the then communist authorities, carried out by the now defunct District Commission for the Investigation of Nazi War Crimes in Poland.

Many staff-members of the Auschwitz-Birkenau complex were tried in Poland in the wake of the Second World War, but such trials came to a close in 1956, following an official amnesty. (nh/pg)