German court finds Swedish man guilty of killing Shoah survivor 26 years ago
Frankfurt judge hands down verdict against John Ausonius for the murder in 1992 of 68-year-old Blanka Zmigrod
A convicted murderer from Sweden has been found guilty of killing a Holocaust survivor in Germany 26 years ago.
On Wednesday, the Frankfurt District Court handed down its verdict against John Ausonius for the 1992 shooting death of 68-year-old Blanka Zmigrod and sentenced him to life in prison. A life sentence in Germany is 14 years.
The court heard nine days of hearings in a trial that began in December.
Ausonius already is serving a life sentence in Sweden for a list of violent crimes that includes the murder of an immigrant, an Iranian national, and the attempted murder of 11 immigrants that reportedly also were associated with robberies. He has been in jail in Sweden since 1992.
Born as Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg, Ausonius, 64, was dubbed “Laser Man” by Swedish media because he used a rifle equipped with a laser sight.
Zmigrod was a cloakroom attendant at a Frankfurt restaurant in February 1992 when Ausonius reportedly accused her of stealing a Casio electronic diary in which he allegedly had stored contact information for a planned escape to South Africa. When she refused to open her handbag, he allegedly told her he would see her again. According to news reports, she was shot at close range about 36 hours later. The ammunition used was the same as that used in the shootings of the immigrants, investigators said.
An investigation of the Zmigrod murder was dropped in 1996, but was relaunched in 2014 after the revelation that German police had failed to recognise patterns in a decade-long series of anti-foreigner murders later attributed to a far-right cell, the National Socialist Union.
A key witness in the current case was Zmigrod’s former employer, who said a man in a video provided by Swedish police closely resembled the man who had threatened Zmigrod.
Early in the trial, Ausonius had described his checkered past, marked by everything from petty crimes to murder. But, according to news reports, in his final statement Wednesday he said he had “nothing to hide about his stay in Germany.”
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
