Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe defends former Nazi guard currently on trial in Germany

Ann Widdecombe has suggested that the case against a 97-year-old man who served as a Nazi concentration camp guard when he was seventeen “lacks proportionality”, and that any resistance he might have shown at the time would have done “absolutely nothing in terms of alleviating human suffering”.

The former Conservative MP turned Brexit Party MEP made the comments on the LBC radio channel, suggesting that the defendant “would have been shot” if he had put up any resistance, and insisted that “if he had been in any way, even at the age of seventeen, actively involved in the deaths at the death camps, then I think that’s a different issue. But he wasn’t.”

If he had declined an order, Ms Widdecombe maintained, “he would have been shot. And not a single Jew would have been saved,” although she did note that some “massively brave” guards had indeed resisted orders.

Host Nick Ferrari suggested that this would fall under the ‘I was only carrying out orders’ defence, which had failed at the post-War Nuremberg trials, but Ms Widdecombe did not relent.

In the past, Ms Widdecombe has come under fire for appearing on The Richie Allen Show and Bristol Community FM’s Politics Show hosted by Tony Gosling. The Richie Allen Show and Mr Gosling have both been accused of promoting Rothschild conspiracy theories. Ms Widdecombe says that she appeared on the programmes to discuss Brexit.