Polish soldiers holding eternal flames stand in front of a wall during the inauguration at the vast new memorial for the victims of the Belzec Nazi death camp in Belzec, Poland. File photo / AP

Polish soldiers holding eternal flames stand in front of a wall during the inauguration at the vast new memorial for the victims of the Belzec Nazi death camp in Belzec, Poland. File photo / AP

A German official says charges against a suspected former Nazi death camp guard have been filed at a youth court because he was still a minor at the time of the crimes.

Court spokesman Matthias Nordmeyer said yesterday that charges against 88-year-old Samuel Kunz were filed at a youth court in the western city of Bonn, but that it would be up to the judges to decide whether he was tried as an adult or an adolescent - which could lead to a more lenient sentence.