SS veteran goes on trial in German court for war crime

Dutch-born Siert Bruins, who is now German, entered the Hagen state court using a walking frame, but appeared alert and attentive.

No pleas are made and Bruins offered no statement. His lawyer Klaus-Peter Kniffka said after the 35-minute opening session that it was unlikely his client would ever address the court personally.

The trial comes amid a new phase of German Nazi-era investigations, with federal prosecutors this week expected to announce they are recommending the pursuit of possible charges against about 40 former Auschwitz guards.

Bruins served time in the 1980s for his role in the wartime murder of two Dutch Jews.

He was also convicted and sentenced to death in absentia in the Netherlands in 1949 in a case that involved the killing of the resistance fighter. The sentence was later commuted to life in prison, but attempts to extradite him were unsuccessful because he had obtained German citizenship.

Bruins, who volunteered for the SS, is accused of killing Aldert Klaas Dijkema in 1944 in the town of Appingedam.

Mr Dijkema was taken by the Nazis on suspicion he was involved in the resistance. According to prosecutors, Bruins and alleged accomplice August Neuhaeuser, who has since died, drove him to an isolated industrial area where they stopped and told him to “go take a leak”.

As he walked away from the car, they fired at least four shots into him, including into the back of his head, killing him instantly, according to the indictment.

Bruins and Neuhaeuser reported that Mr Dijkema was shot while trying to escape.