Commenting on the Federal Court of Justice decision to throw out the appeal in the Gröning-Auschwitz trial in Lüneburg the Executive Vice President of the International Auschwitz Committee Christoph Heubner stressed in Berlin:

"This represents an important day for the survivors of Auschwitz in their relationship to Germany: the Federal Court of Justice has finally confirmed the reality of the death camps and the descriptions of the machinery of death in Auschwitz that the survivors have repeatedly given in public. At last the Federal Court of Justice decision has finally made it clear: everyone who served in Auschwitz is both responsible and guilty.

This will act as a long-lasting signal for future trials involving genocide. But the Federal Court of Justice decision is also a confirmation of the fact that in Germany the majority of perpetrators from Auschwitz got away scot free, because people have simply refused to recognise the murderous and perfidious overall structure of the camp system for many decades."