--- title: 89-Year-Old Man Accused of Assisting in Nazi Genocide description: Germany has charged him with 158 counts of aiding and abetting Nazi attrocities canonical: https://time.com/2895709/89-year-old-man-accused-of-assisting-in-nazi-genocide/ author: Abby Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-18T19:44:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T08:29:28.647Z article:section: Politics og:title: US Arrests Man Accused of Being Nazi Guard og:description: Germany has charged him with 158 counts of aiding and abetting Nazi attrocities og:url: https://time.com/2895709/89-year-old-man-accused-of-assisting-in-nazi-genocide/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf273a08a8e85069d/6986982e361760af5990cadb/auschwitz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2578 og:image:height: 1450 og:image:alt: The word Auschwitz, denoting name of Nazi concentration camp, is seen at Gleis 17 memorial in Berlin og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: US Arrests Man Accused of Being Nazi Guard twitter:description: Germany has charged him with 158 counts of aiding and abetting Nazi attrocities twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf273a08a8e85069d/6986982e361760af5990cadb/auschwitz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 89-Year-Old Man Accused of Assisting in Nazi Genocide > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Abby Abrams](https://time.com/author/abby-abrams/) ## Abby Abrams Jun 18, 2014 7:44 PM UTC  The word Auschwitz, denoting the name of the Nazi concentration camp at the Gleis 17 (platform 17) memorial commemorating Jews who were deported from Grunewald train station during World War Two in Berlin January 25, 2014. The word Auschwitz, denoting the name of the Nazi concentration camp at the Gleis 17 (platform 17) memorial commemorating Jews who were deported from Grunewald train station during World War Two in Berlin January 25, 2014. Thomas Peter—Reuters by [Abby Abrams](https://time.com/author/abby-abrams/) ## Abby Abrams Jun 18, 2014 7:44 PM UTC An 89-year-old Philadelphia man was arrested by U.S. officials Tuesday and a day later charged by German authorities with 158 counts of assisting in the killing of hundreds of thousands of Jewish prisoners and others while he was a Nazi guard at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Johann “Hans” Breyer, a retired toolmaker from Czechoslovakia, is the oldest person ever arrested in connection with crimes committed during the Holocaust, according to the New York [_Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/us/johann-breyer-accused-of-working-at-auschwitz-and-buchenwald.html). Officials say Breyer joined the paramilitary Waffen-SS force at age 17, and later worked at Birkenau, a section of the concentration camp at Auschwitz that housed gas chambers. Breyer admitted to the Associated Press that he worked as a guard at Auschwitz-Berkenau, but he said his duties kept him outside the facility and he had nothing to do with the killings committed inside the gates. Breyer’s attorney, Dennis Boyle, tried to get Breyer released on bail Wednesday, arguing that he is too frail to be detained. But prosecutors said the facility where Breyer is being taken is equipped to take care of him. Magistrate Judge Timothy R. Rice said Breyer appeared to understand the proceedings and would not be granted bail due to the “the serious nature of the crime.” Breyer’s arrest renews a case that officials in multiple countries have pursued for years. The U.S. Justice Department first accused Breyer of Nazi ties in 1992 and fought to deport him until 2003, according to [the AP](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-exclusive-philadelphia-man-nazi-probe-target). The DOJ questioned whether Breyer lied about his Nazi involvement when applying for citizenship or whether he could have citizenship through his mother, who was born in the U.S. He was allowed to stay in the U.S. largely because he joined the SS as a minor. Germany now wants Breyer extradited so he can stand trial for the charges against him in that country. \[[_New York Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/us/johann-breyer-accused-of-working-at-auschwitz-and-buchenwald.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2895709/89-year-old-man-accused-of-assisting-in-nazi-genocide/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2895709/89-year-old-man-accused-of-assisting-in-nazi-genocide/"},"headline":"89-Year-Old Man Accused of Assisting in Nazi Genocide","datePublished":"2014-06-18T19:44:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T08:29:28.647Z","description":"Germany has charged him with 158 counts of aiding and abetting Nazi attrocities","url":"https://time.com/2895709/89-year-old-man-accused-of-assisting-in-nazi-genocide/","keywords":["Crime","Nazis","World War II"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf273a08a8e85069d/6986982e361760af5990cadb/auschwitz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abby Abrams","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/abby-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf273a08a8e85069d/6986982e361760af5990cadb/auschwitz.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The word Auschwitz, denoting name of Nazi concentration camp, is seen at Gleis 17 memorial in Berlin","caption":"The word Auschwitz, denoting name of Nazi concentration camp, is seen at Gleis 17 memorial in Berlin","creditText":"Thomas Peter—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2895709/89-year-old-man-accused-of-assisting-in-nazi-genocide/","name":"89-Year-Old Man Accused of Assisting in Nazi Genocide"}}]}] ```