Trials Again Expose Nazi Crimes
(Continued from Page 1)
acquitted Frank Novak, chief
transport officer for Adolf Eich-
mann, of responsibility for the
wartime deportation of hundreds
of thousands of Jews. The 53-
year-old former SS captain ob-
tained the verdict on a re-
trial after he had previously
been sentenced to an eight-year
term, in 1956. The Austrian Su-
preme Court overturned that
verdict on a technicality.
In the second trial here, the jury
of five women and three men
agreed, seven to one, that Novak
knew that the Jews for whose
transport he arranged were sche-
duled to die in the ovens of the
Auschwitz death camp. Thereby,
the jury held, he had endangered
the lives of the victims. However,
the jury deadlocked, four to four,
on whether Novak acted under du-
ress. Such a verdict, under Aus-
trian law, means acquittal.
At his first trial, Novak contend-
ed that he was only a "cog" in
the Nazi program and that he had
not known the fate awaiting the
Jews. The jury then acquitted
him by a five to three vote of aid-
ing and plotting mass murder, but
found him guilty "with extenuating
circumstances" of "endangering"
the lives of the Jewish men, wo-
men and children.
Protest Novak Acquittal
NEW YORK (JTA)—The Ameri-
can Jewish Congress denounced as
"outrageous" the freeing by an
Austrian court last week of Franz
Novak, Adolph Eichmann's - chief
transport officer during World
War II. The organization's na-
tional governing council, meeting
here, acted after hearing a report
by Shad Polier, chairman of the
governing council, who stated:
"Twenty-one years after V-E
Day, Austrians have yet to dem-
onstrate that they understand their
country's true role as a partner of
Hitlerism. This failure of con-
sciousness, this willful shrinking
from awareness, creates perhaps
the most formidable psychological
obstacle in combating the spread of
ultra-rightist and neo-Nazis influ-
ence within Austria, and in enlarg-
ing the areas of genuine freedom
and democracy in the country."
The statement was adopted as a
resolution by the entire governing
council, and sent to Austria's am-
bassador in Washington who, only
last week, received a protest
against resurgent neo-Nazism and
anti-Semitism in Austria from Dr.
Joachim Prinz, chairman of the
AJC's commission on international
affairs. (In Tel Aviv, a similar
sharp protest against Novak's ac-
quittal was adopted by the Israeli
Organization of Former Partisans
and Fighters Against Nazism. In
London, a vigorous protest on the
same issue was made by A. L.
Easterman, international affairs di-
rector of the World Jewish Con-
gress.)
German Jurist Raps Light
Sentences for Nazi Criminals
BONN (JTA) — Ernst Friesch-
mann, president of the West Ger-
man Congress of Jurists, criticized
the light sentences imposed on
former Nazis many of whom had
been shown to be peTsonally re-
sponsible for wartime murders.
He stressed that there was no
evidence that any German had
been punished by the Nazis re-
gime for refusing to obey criminal
orders. He said this proved that
the defenses of Nazi war criminals
during the trials, that they had to
obey orders, had no validity.
Dr. Albert Pfitzer, who was nam-
ed by Chancellor Ludwig Erhard
to succeed Dr. Ludwig Westrick as
head of the chancellory office, ad-
mitted he had been a member of
the Nazi Party as well as of its
SS (Elite Guard). Asserting that
he had joined the Nazi Party when
he was a 21-year-old student, Dr.
Pfitzer said he had 13een a "simple
member without rank and without
taking part in any activities." He
Charles Madison's 'Book Publishing'
Thorough; Religious Area Inadequate
Charles A. Madison, former De-
troiter, for many years an associ-
ate editor of the publishing house
of Henry Holt and more recently
an editor of Holt, Rinehart and
Winston, is one of the noted au-
thorities on bookpublishing in this
country. ,
Author of sev-
eral books on the
American labor
movement and its
leaders and of
the recent history
of the Holt firm,
he has compiled
an interesting his-
tory of publishing
a n d publishers.
His "Book Pub-
lishing in Amer-
ica" has just been
published by Mc-
Graw-Hill Book
Co.
Madison
This is not only
a history of publishing. It is a
compilation of incidents relating
to the formation of publishing
firms, comments interestingly on
publishers and has much to say
about many authors.
Indeed, Madison's is an ency-
clopedic who's who of publishers
and of pioneers who have con-
tributed towards the establish-
ment of the great American book
publishing industry.
In his outline of the publishers'
activities Madison also lists the
outstanding books they have issued,
and the authors thus play their
roles in this history together with
the firms that issued their works.
There is one regrettable short-
coming. A little more than a page
is devoted by Madison to "The
Religious Book Publishers." Listed
towards the end of that reference
is this paragraph.
"Bloch Publishing Co. and
Schocken Books in New York, and
the Jewish Publication Society in
Philadelphia publish around 60
books annually on Jewish sub-
j ects."
In the first place, the religious
book field deserved a much more
expanded and more elaborate re-
view. Then, a. firm like Schocken
has issued so many classics that
it earned better consideration than
mere mention.
And the Jewish Publication So-
ciety has such an important place
in publishing and in Jewish life
that it should not have been lim-
ited to a mere use of its name.
There is also the Hebrew Pub-
lishing Co. Besides, the Union of
American Hebrew Congregations
and the United Synagogue pub-
lish many volumes of a religious
nature.
Thus, the compilation by Madi-
son is quite complete when he
deals with the major publishers.
In the religious area it is totally
inadequate.
British Minister Pledges
Friendship to Israel
LONDON (JTA)—Edward Short,
the British postmaster general,
told a British Labor Zionist confer-
ence in Brighton that, while Prime
Minister Harold Wilson's Labor
government had every intention of
maintaining friendly relations with
the Arab countries, this would nev-
er be at the expense of Israel.
Calling Israel "indestructible,"
he said the Jewish State was "a
lesson in democratic socialism."
The meeting was held in connec-
tion with the Labor Party's con-
ference at which it was disclosed
that a 33-member Labor Party
study mission was leaving for Is-
rael Monday. Harry Nicholas, as-
sistant general secretary of the
Transport and General Workers
Union, Britain's largest trade
union, is a member of the mission.
He lauded the achievements of
Israel.
added that "nothing in my past
life can be a political burden to
me." Dr. Pfitzer withdrew from
the post.
Defendant Hangs Self
After Denying Guilt
HAGEN (JTA)—Kurt Bolender,
54, the chief defendant in the trial
of 11 former officials of the Nazi
Sobibor death camp in Poland,
hanged himself in his cell, court
officials announced here.
Bolender left a note denying his
guilt in the murder of 360 Jews
and taking part in the killing of
84,000 others. He said no one in
the court would believe him, and
he did not want to spend the rest
of his life in prison. Ten other
defendants in the trial are charged
with complicity in the murder of
250,000 Jews at Sobibor.
Doctor Claims Innocence
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire
to The Jewish News)
FRANKFURT — Dr. Acquilin Ul-
rich, one of the three former Nazi
physicians on trial for their role
in Hitler's program of "mercy
killing" of alleged disabled and
feeble-minded persons, told the
court here Wednesday that there
were no Jews among the victims
of the program who were gassed
while he worked at a sanatorium
in Brandenburg in 1940.
Dr. Ulrich admitted helping to
kill 300 to 500 victims in the pro-
gram- but he denied responsibility
for the deaths of 5,000 as charged
by the prosecutor.
* * *
Nazi Victims from Austria
Resume Compensation Fight
The dissatisfaction among Nazi
victims from Austria has led to
the formation of the American
Council for Equal Compensation of
Nazi Victims from Austria, Inc.,
a nonprofit membership corpora-
tion, it was announced by its presi-
dent, Felix Harding, a former dis-
tinguished attorney from Vienna,
-now a citizen of the United States.
The purpose of the new organi-
zation is to achieve equal compen-
sation for equal suffering, compar-
able to the indemnification legisla-
tion of the Federal Republic of
Germany.
The executive board of ACOA
has held numerous conferences
with representatives of the Aus-
trian and German governments
and the U.S. Department of State
in order to convince them that the
glaring inequities must be ad-
justed to give many thousands of
Nazi victims from Austria not only
just compensation to which they
are entitled, but satisfy at the
same time the social needs of
many aged victims of Nazi perse-
cution from Austria, who are un-
able to earn their own livelihood.
The first mass meeting to report
on the measures already taken and
to formulate the demands in a
resolution will take place 8:15 p.m.,
Thursday at Bnai Jeshkran Con-
gregation, 278 W. 89th St., New
York, at which time Kurt R.
Grossman will deliver the keynote
address.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, October 14, 1966-37
Italy Delays Paying N azi Victims' Claims
ROME (JTA)—Informed sources
reported here that compensation
payments to victims of the Nazi
occupation of Italy, from a special
$10,000,000 West German fund given
to Italy in 1963, will not be corn-
, ..ed before 1968.
An estimated minimum of 8,000
Jews appear to be eligible for such
payments.
The West German government
provided the money for partial in-
demnification of Italians deported
by the Nazis between 1943 and
1945. An Italian law regulating dis-
tribution of the funds was adopted
in 1964. It excluded servicemen
taken to Germany as prisoners of
war after the Italian armistice in
1943. Under that law, it was esti-
mated that applicants would total
about 20,000, including one-third
who were Jews.
Later it developed that the
clause excluding prisoner of war
deportees had bene incorrectly
interpreted, and some 300,000
applications were filed. Current
estimates of eligible claimants
are between 30,000 and 40,000
persons, and the number of Jew-
ish claimants may be higher
than the initial estimate.
The original deadline for submit-
ting documentary proof of eligibil-
ity was Nov. 22, 1966. However,
final examination of the 300,000
applications by a special commis-
sion, eventual appeals against find-
ings of the commission and other
procedures assured delay in pay-
ments until 1968, the sources said.
It was estimated that the aver-
age payment, when finally made,
will be about $250 per person.
Since payments will be based on
duration of deportation of each vic-
tim, the actual payments will vary
from that average.
He who waits to do a great deal
of good at once, will never do any-
thing.—,Samuel Johnson
AFON
IS BEING FORMED
A
new group, AFON, Action For
Outlawing Nazism' is being form-
ed. The first meeting and discus-
sion will take place soon.
For More Information
Call KE 7-2110
FOR YOUR INFORMATION!!!
EVERY TUESDAY EVENING IS ADULT EDUCATION
NIGHT AT
CONGREGATION B'NAI MOSHE
8:15-9:10 p.m. and 9:1 5-1 0:1 0 p.m.
(WITH COFFEE AND — after the lecture!)
HIGHLIGHTS:
Rabbi Moses Lehrman:
Guest Lecturers:
Lecture series. CURRENT JEWISH ISSUES.
Includes such topics as INTER-DATING
and INTER-MARRIAGE, HOW ' TO AN-
SWER OUR NON-JEWISH NEIGHBORS ON
SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BE-
TWEEN JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY,
etc.
Second semester only. Controversial
sub-
jects.
Cantor Louis Klein:
ANALYSIS AND INIERPRET A TION OF
THE HIGH HOLY DAY LITURGY. With
illustrative records and tapes by renowned
Cantors, the order and history of the
Prayers, as well as the story of the
poets who inspired the Prayers.
Rabbi Isaac Paneth:
PERSONALIJIES WHO SHAPED JEWISH
HISTORY. Includes: The False Messiahs,
the Reconstructionists, Maimonidies, etc.
Seymour Kaplan:
UNDERSTANDING CURRENT EVENTS. An
informal discussion on local, national, and
international issues pertinent to the Jew-
ish People. With Guest Lecturers.
Morris Nobel:
CONVERSATIONAL HEBREW. A working
vocabulary in HEBREW in a very few
weeks.
Mark Eichner:
ELEMENTARY HEBREW. Basic HEBREW
for Adults.
REGISTRATION FEE: $3.00 Per Person for Both Semesters
Advance Registration at the Congregation B'nai Moshe Office
or
Register on Opening Night, Tuesday Evening, October 18th,
at 7:30 p.m.
Congregation B'nai Moshe
Phone LI 8-9000
14390 W. Ten Mile Road at Kenosha
Oak Park, Michigan 48237
A Function of Great Significance . . . For a great Cause .. .
Featuring Noted Educator and Popular Artist
Annual Bar-Ilan University Dinner
Wednesday, November 30, 6 p.m.
at Cobo Hall
will feature
DR. ORMOND DRAKE
Professor of Speech at New York University, Prominent Director of
Radio and TV Programs, just back from Bar-Ilan University with a
first hand report on the great university's progress.
THEODORE BIKEL
One of America's most popular singers and entertainers.
Dinner committee under chairmanship of Samuel Frankel now
formation.
DR. ORMOND DRAKE
Reserve This Important Date . . . Plan to Participate
in the Annual Significant Bar-Han Dinner
in