BERLIN -- A former Nazi SS officer who said he was only following orders when he participated in World War II massacres of 734 people broke down in tears Thursday as an East German prosecutor demanded a life sentence.
'The statesmen living today must take care that such a thing never happens again,' Heinz Barth sobbed as he told the court in communist East Berlin he was 'ashamed' of his role in the massacres.
He admitted taking part in the 1944 machinegun killing of 642 villagers, including 203 children in Oradour-sur-Glane, France, and the firing squad executions of 92 people in Czechoslovakia in 1942.
'He was a relentless officer and a cold-blooded merciless executor of fascist violence,' said prosecuting attorney Horst Busse.
Busse said the charges against Barth, 62, had been 'fully proven' since the trial began eight days ago and demanded Barth's rights as an East German citizen be forfeited and he be jailed for life.
Busse said he did not demand the death sentence because of Barth's cooperation with police investigators after his arrest. A verdict is expected Tuesday.
Barth admitted Monday he took part in the massacres and described lining up terrified French villagers and firing a machine gun at their chests in a Nazi reprisal for the capture of an SS officer by French Resistance in the district.
'Our orders were not to spare anybody,' Barth said.
He said he had no choice but to obey his instructions or be court martialed.
'Failure to punish crimes that were ordered by others would be a general pardon for all murderers and war criminals,' prosecutor Busse said.
Barth was sentenced to death by a Bordeaux court in 1953 for his part in the French massacre but remained undetected in his job as a textile worker in East Berlin until he was traced and arrested two years ago.
Barth, who lost a leg fighting in Normandy, also admitted volunteering to be a member of firing squads that killed 92 people in Czechoslovakia to avenge the assassination of SS chief Reinhard Heydrich.
'I am ashamed that I took part in these operations and actions in occupied countries as a young man,' he told the court.
Two villagers from Oradour who survived the massacre because they were buried under a heap of dead bodies traveled to East Berlin for the trial and described the killings although they could not identify Barth after 39 years.
