Austrian Govt. Expected to Extend
Statute Soon; Bonn Justice Chief
Insists on lloldind to May 8 Cut-off

(From JTA Services to The Jewish News)

VIENNA—Informed sources said here Wednesday that I
the Austrian government will probably act soon to extend the
effective date of the statute of limitations for the prosecution
of Nazi war criminals.
The sources said that the Bucher, "from existing law. This
extension will be based on a means we should neither draw a
revival of an Austrian law final line, releasing criminals al-
which stipulated there was no ready caught, nor extend retroac-
limitation for crimes carrying tively the validity of the penal
the death penalty. Although code."
The Bundestag is scheduled to
the death penalty has since open
debate March 10 on several
been abolished, plans call for t d ern ad ft thmeasures,
e statute which would ex
revival of the law and both
limitations
10
for
ofor
years to
alition parties have an- periods ranging from
co
nounced they considered such 30 years.
Dr. Belcher said that it would
a procedure possible.

•

not be Germany's fault if "some"
Chancellor Klaus has offered his
Nazi criminals were to benefit
"personal opinion" that it would
not be an innovation for Austrian from the statute of limitations
legislation to have no limitation if that statute were to make
for prosecution for murder or for I further trials impossible after
instigation to murder. The Socialist next May.
Party has announced officially it
The Allied powers, he said.
would intercede for extension of would be at fault for carrying out
the date of the statute of limita- their "silly denazification program,
j subjecting each unimportant little
tions.
It was considered possible that party member to petty questioning
a cabinet meeting scheduled for instead of prosecuting those really
next week would give unanimous I guilty." He criticized foreign peti-
consent to these proposals, setting 1 tioners on this issue.
the stage for submission of appro- I Dr. Franz Boehm, one of West
priate legislation to parliament be- Germany's outstanding fighters
l against neo-Nazism for many years,
fore Easter.
Simon Wiesenthal, director of appealed to Dr. Bucher to extend
the Center for Documentation of the statute of limitations, not only
Nazi Crimes, in Vienna, submitted for crimes committed against Ger-
to the chancellor, the justice min- mans in Germany but also or
inter, all members of the Austrian crimes committed by Germans dur-
parliament and to West German ing the war abroad.
An influential member of the
officials, letters from leading West
Germans demanding that the stat- dominant Christian Democratic
ute of limitations date be extended. Party. Dr. Boehm is one of 40
The signers included Augustin members of that party urging ex-
Cardinal Bea. philosopher Karl tension of the statute of limitations
Burchardt. Protestant Bishop Hans through a bill now pending in the
Lilje and Nobel Prize winners Max Bundestag.
Born and Werner Heisenberg.
As chairman of the Sudeten
Meanwhile, in Bonn, Minister
German Landsmanschaften, Dr.
of Justice Ewald Bucher told the
Boehm also criticized Czechoslo-
West German nation in a radio
vakia for doing little or nothing"
broadcast that he is still opposed
to bring to justice those "guilty
to extension of the statute of
of crimes against humanity" dur-
limitations beyond the cut - off
ing the expulsion of Germans from
date of May 8.
the Sudeten region.
He is under pressure from mem-
He accused Czechoslovakia of
bers of the Bundestag. the lower employing "a double standard" in
house of Parliament, to stretch the urging Germany to try more Nazi
statute, while hundreds of Ger- war criminals while failing to try
man and foreign petitioners around those who were responsible for
the world have requested that similar atrocities against Sudeten
Germany keep the door open for Germans.
The Polish government has is-
trying Nazi war criminals beyond
sued visas to a commission rep-
next May.
resenting the Central Office for
"We should depart neither to
Investigation of Nazi Crimes, at
the left nor to the right," said Dr.

Eichmann Aides, Krumey, Hunsche
•
Go Free After War-Crimes Trial

(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)

FRANKFURT — Herman Kru-
mey. Adolf Eichmann's key aide
in the wartime deportation of 300,-
000 Hungarian Jews, was sentenced
here Wednesday to five years at
hard labor on charges of complicity
in the deportation. But the former
SS lieutenant colonel has been in
prison for five years in pre-trial
detention, so will not have to serve
an additional term.
His co-defendant, former SS
Capt. Otto Hunsche. was acquitted
of the charges after a seven-month
trial. The prosecution will appeal
the verdict. It had asked life sen-
tences for both men. Eichmann
once referred to them as "my
closest associates."
* * *

to sabotage the Nazi program for
the annihilation of Jewry.

Ludwigsburg, to visit Poland
and examine records of Nazi
crimes and criminals held by
the Polish government. The
commission applied for visas
several weeks ago, but no an-
swer was received from the
Warsaw authorities until Jan.

31.

A week before, Bucher told the
Bundestag that neither Poland nor
Czechoslovakia had furnished any
documents regarding Nazi w a r
criminals.
There were suspicions that Po-
land and Czechoslovakia w e r e
withholding the requested docu-
mentation until after May 8, so
that they could make political
capital of their disclosures about
untried war criminals after the
statute had lapsed.
Thousands of important docu-
ments relevant to Nazi war crimes
are on file in Poland and open for
examination by representatives of
all foreign governments, the Polish
government's director of the Com-
mission to Investigate Nazi Crimes
on Polish Territory declared in
Warsaw.
The director, Janusz Gonkowski,
said in Warsaw that the docu-
ments have been "diligently" col-
lected since 1945. The files, he
said. "have been at the disposal of
foreign governments and scholars
from the very first day. But only
very recently has the West Ger-
man government asked Poland for
permission to use these documents
in their war crimes trials, and to
visit the sites of war crimes. This
permission was. of course, willingly
granted. but many trials h ave
taken place in Germany without
recourse to the wealth of material
available in Poland."
Elsewhere:
The former Soviet prosecutor
at the Nuremberg War Crimes
trial, Roman Rudenko, said in
Moscow that West Germany's
refusal to continue prosecuting
Nazi criminals was "a gross vio-
lation of international law."
"We are still shooting people
for their war crimes, 20 years
later," Rudenko declared. He made
these statements at a press con-
ference held to press the Soviet
government's campaign against the
West German decision.
Marshal Semyon Timoshenko,
Russia's World War II leader,
called the Bonn stand "a profana-
tion of the memory of Nazi
victims."
f The statements of the Soviet
leaders contradict an order issued
by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
on Sept. 17, 1955, releasing from
prisons all Soviet citizens w h o
served in the Nazi army, the Nazi
police, and "special formations"
which included the notorious SS
commandos in charge of mass
murder of all Jews behind the
Nazi occupation lines in the Soviet
Union. However, some trials of
Nazi collaborators did take place
in the Soviet Union after the issu-
ance of this order.)
In Strasbourg, France, a resolu-
tion urging all 17 member govern-
ments of the Council of Europe,
including West Germany, to pre-
vent the application of the statute
of limitations on further trials of
Nazi war criminals was adopted
overwhelmingly by the assembly
of the Council. The vote was 68
to 15, with one abstention.
Most of the negative votes were
cast by members of the Christian
Democratic Party of Germany,
while some Scandinavian and Brit-
ish pvticipants also voted against
the rtsolut!on.
A strong plea for adoption of
the resolution was made before the
Assembly by H. Zadok of Israel,
one of the two Israeli observers
at the Assembly. The opposition to
the measure was led by the West
German representatives.

German Court Clears
Late SS Officer Who
Sought to Aid Jews

The fact that Gerstein had at-
tempted to sabotage the Nazi plans
was first brought out in a German I
court in 1950. He had the assign-
ment to procure the cyanide which
was used for gassing Jews in the
murder camps. The German court
found, 14 years ago, that, while he
did try to act humanely, he should
have quit the SS when he found
that he could not prevent the
crimes committed by the Nazis.
Last year, his widow called for
a re-examination of her late hus-
band's record. A f t e r a lengthy
probe, Prime Minister George Kie-
singer, of the state of Baden-
Wurttemberg, officially declared
Gerstein "rehabilitated." This is
believed to be the first case of
the formal rehabilitation of a Ger-
man previously condemned as a
war criminal.

BONN (JTA)—A former mem-
ber of Hitler's SS, who died in a
French prison in 1945 after being
convicted as a war criminal, was
officially cleared here and de-
clared an anti-Nazi.
The man was Kurt Gerstein,
commemorated in Rolf Hochhuth's
drama, "The Deputy," as the SS
officer who tried single-handedly

Hungary's First Physician
Joseph Manes Osterreicher, an
18th Century Hungarian Jewish
physician, was the first Jew in
Hungary to receive the degree of
doctor of medicine when he was
awarded the degree by the Uni-
versity of Buda due to the personol THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
intervention of Emperor Joseph
6—Friday, February 5, 1965

n.

He who is slack at his work is
Pope Honors Austrian
Jew for Restitution Work brother to him who destroys.

VIENNA (JTA) — Dr. George
Weis, a Jew who is director of the
Austrian government's restitution
fund, was decorated by the Vatican
when Pope Paul VI conferred upon
Dr. Weis the award of Cross Corn-
mander of the Order of Sylvester.
The pontiff cited Dr. Weis for
"meritorious" work in aiding the
Vatifan to obtain restitution for
Catholic church property destroy-
ed or damaged during the Nazi !
occupation of this country. The
papal award is considered here as
a rare and high distinction for
a Jew.

1 1•1

■ 111MMIIIMIF

MORTGAGES
APPLICATIONS FOR
VA or FHA

ARE NOW BEING TAKEN
On New or Existing Homes

QUICK SERVICE

Phone Us Today

FRANKLIN

MORTGAGE

CORP.

Approved FHA Mortgage*
915 First National Bldg., Det. 26

WO 3-4890

the Are Celebrating Our 25th Anniversary

BECAUSE . . .

NOBODY UNDERSELLS

WOODY PONTIAC

"AND DON'T EVER FORGET IT!"

See for Yourself!

TW 1-1600 • 12140 JOS. CAMPAU sout ilt: Davison

GOING TO MIAMI BEACH?

•

VISIT

I W)04:i

MO tOr AI ft

. By the Sea — 9501 Collins — Ph. No. UN 6-1625

and

ilittreitM
p .
t o e I

By the Sea • 9165 Collins • Surfside 54,

Florida

Phone No. UN 6-6553

Please consider the above two resort motets owned by W. W. Woody,
owner of Woody Pontiac and Hillcrest Country Club.
These two motels have been remodeled, redecorated and refurnished
in Itolion provincial decor. We hove o beautiful sandy beach, swim-
ming pool, dining room, wine cellar and underground parking for
your convenience. Our rotes for January, February, March and April
start at $20 per day for 2 people. We welcome the whole family.
We are located in the heart of Surfside and within easy walking
distance of fine shops and churches.

For Reservations Call our Detroit Office — TW 1-1600
Ask for Miss Mona Louis

111••••11,

The Community Is Invited to the . .
Bar-Han 10th Anniversary
Progress Report Dessert Luncheon
of the

Detroit Women's Division
of Bar-Ilan University in Israel

Thursday, Feb. 1I — 12:30 P.M.

at the Jewish Center
Curtis & Meyers

Guest Speaker

DR. GEORGE BARAHAL

Professor of Educational and
Clinicol Psychology at Wayne
State University
on the Topic:

Report on Bar Han's
Progress by

MRS. MAX STOLLMAN

Notional Chairman of
Bor-lion Women

"Achieving Emotional

Security"

Musical Program by
BEL-CANTO GROUP

Directed by

Cantor SIMON BERMANIS

Admission Free —
No Solicitation of Funds
For Reservations Call

DI 1-0708