A former Auschwitz guard has died days before his trial.

Ernst Tremmel died aged 93, just before he was due to stand trial for 1,075 counts of accessory to murder, covering the time he worked at the camp from November 1942 to June 1943. His trial was scheduled for April 13.

The former SS guard was not directly responsible for the mass killings at the Nazi camps, but was part of the team that oversaw the selection process of prisoners – deciding who would live and who would die.

His death has dashed hopes of closure from survivors. Israel Loewenstein, a 91-year-old Holocaust survivor whose parents died at Auschwitz, had hoped the current trials would bring justice to Tremmel and other guards.

"But then again we don't know if he would have even told the truth about Auschwitz - many of the accused don't, after all," he said.

This would have been the latest in a series of recent trials involving former Nazi camp guards.