Auschwitz guard charged with murder of 300,000

The Public Attorney’s Office said: "Through his activities, he provided the Nazi regime with economic advantage and supported systematic killings."

Mr Gröning has previously spoken to the BBC and German newspapers about his role during the Shoah.

He said he had witnessed an SS guard murder a baby, but denied being an accomplice in murders. The pensioner claims he was a bookkeeper who kept tally of money seized from victims.

“Accomplice would almost be too much for me,” he told Der Spiegel in 2005. “I would describe my role as a ‘small cog in the gears’. If you can describe that as guilt, then I am guilty, but not voluntarily.”

He was cleared at a war crimes tribunal in 1948 and went on to work in a glass factory.

Authorities in Germany are currently pursuing the cases of 30 living former Auschwitz guards.

Their efforts follow the 2011 conviction of John Demjanjuk, who was discovered living in the United States but was found guilty of Nazi war crimes.