A 96-year-old former SS officer has been charged with Holocaust denial after he implied Jews killed in a massacre he took part in were to blame for their deaths and questioned whether six million Jews had really been murdered.
Karl Münter told German TV broadcaster ARD he was part of the SS unit that massacred 86 people in April 1944 in northern France in retaliation for the sabotage of a railway.
Unaware he was being filmed, he said the 86 people who died were responsible for their deaths because they ran away.
In a statement, prosecutors in Lower Saxony said: "The accused did not dispute giving the information to journalists but he said he did not know that the interview was recorded and would be later broadcast.
