A former secretary at a Nazi concentration camp has been captured after trying to flee before her trial in northern Germany. Irmgard Furchner, 96, was due to stand trial for complicity in 11,000 murders, but she failed to turn up and the judge issued a warrant for her arrest. The defendant was detained by police hours after disappearing from a nursing home in the town of Quickborn. She had fled to Hamburg where she was reportedly seen on a local street.

Irmgard Furchner had been due to appear at a special juvenile court in Itzehoe, an hour’s drive north of Hamburg. Instead she went to an underground station and travelled to the outskirts of Hamburg. “She took a taxi,” said court spokeswoman Frederike Milhoffer. The court spokeswoman said later she would now be brought before the court in Itzehoe, German reports said. Judge Dominik Gross had earlier revealed that Irmgard Furchner was a fugitive and postponed the case until 19 October.(BBC)…[+]