Status of Nazi War Crimes Trials in Germany

•

criminal archives 22 years ago.
Their political aims were more
important to them than bringing
Nazi arch criminals to justice.

By ALFRED WOLF3FANN
JTA Correspondent in

West Germany

(Copyright 1967, JTA Inc.)

BONN—Like the submerged part
of an iceberg, the true extent of
Nazi war crimes. and the huge
number of criminals involved, are
only just beginning to come to
light—nearly 23 years after the
surrender of Nazi Germany
The reason is that Germany
started very late in the day to
bring Nazi war criminals to justice.
The Central Office for Prosecution
of War Crimes, at Ludwigsburg.
was formed only nine years ago.

Here is a summary of the status
of Nazi war crimes investigation
and prosecution in West Germany
as it stands today:
In Kiel a trial began last April
14 against three former SS-men,
Kunde, Heinrich and Mueller, who
in 1942-43 selected and murdered
Jews in Cracow, many by their
own hand; 250 witnesses are to
and
be heard from Germany

abroad. Another trial will start
soon in Kiel. Former members of
the "Einsatzgruppe B" (operation-
But when it did begin its system-
group B) and the high staff of SS
atic investigations, it was like the and police leaders, who murdered
opening of Pandora's box with an
Jews in south Russia will face the
avalanche of new evidence pouring judges. Other trials will start in
forth. Each investigation and each Kiel, Luebeck and Flensburg in
new case led 'to evidence of even Northern Germany. The defendants
more Nazi mass murderers.
of those trials alone are accused
Even so, only a relatively small of participation in the murder of
number of criminals could be many thousands of Jews. Yet in
brought to trial. Many get away very many cases the defendants
with mild sentences for horrendous are released from jail on bail or
crimes. Still more will avoid pun- even without bail; during trial
ishment if the statute of limitations many of them take taxis to and
goes into effect Dec. 31, 1969, as from the courtroom.
scheduled. For that will mean that
In Hamburg alone there are still
only crimes investigated before the 60 cases under investigation in-
1969 deadline can be prosecuted. volving 2,730 persons. Only two
If the amount of new evidence trials opened in Hamburg recently
that comes to light almost daily is The first, on Oct. 17, against for-
any indication, here are huge mer members of the "Kommando
masses of unknown evidence that 1005," who killed 500 Jews, Rus-
may never be discovered if the sians and Poles, and the other
statute of limitations takes effect. on Oct. 30, against 14 members
German state prosecutors are of the police batallion 101, who in
in a hurry because of this pend- 1942 and 1943 participated in kill-
ing deadline. The central office ing the Jews in Lublin. Those trials
in Ludwigsburg has so far opened are expected to last many months.
1,499 investigations of murder
In Lower Saxony, trials are
charges against Nazis. Cases pending against 475 Nazi-criminals.
where the charge is manslaugher In the first half year 1967 investi-
have been scratched from the gations began against 58 new sus-
list. But 921 cases involving mur- pects who a year ago were un-
der have been passed on by the known to the authorities. In Han-
Ludwigsburg office to various over alone 14 cases are under
state prosecutors, while 578 investigation, each involving many
cases are still under pre-trial persons. In Brunswig 18 cases are
investigation. In conrast, the being investigated; in Osnabrueck
Communist bloc countries of 11 cases, one of them against for-
East Europe closed their war mer members of the SS-Body-guard
"Adolf Hitler," who took part in
the murder of Jews in Northern
Happy Hanuka To Our
Italy in 1943.
Friends and Relatives
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tion in Lueneburg, and the same
number of each in Goettingen,
Oldenburg, Aurich, Hildesheim,
Stade and Verden.

In Nordrheinwestphalia investi-
gations are in progress against
9,300 Nazi criminals. They are con-
centrated in Cologne, where the
state prosecution is working on
7,800 cases. The other 1,500 were
members of the "Einsatzkomman-
dos" of the SS, and Dortmund is
taking care of them. The trials
against the guards of Treblinka
and Sobibor, which were held in
Dusseldorf and Hagen were the
biggest trials since the two Aush-

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witz trials, some of the accused
were sentenced to life - imprison-
ment, some got a few years in
prison and some were aquitted
because of "lack of evidence."
One of the most important trials
will start soon against Franz
Stangl, 59, who built the extermin-
ation camp at Sobibor in 1942 and
later became commander of the
death-camp of Treblinka, This man
is responsible for the murder of
50,000 Jews in Sobibor and at least
three hundred thousand Jews in
Treblinka. In both camps about
were gassed.
1,000,000 Jews
Stangl's traces were found only in
February this year by Shimon Wie-
senthal, who devoted his life to
hunting down top Nazis such as
Eichmann, Bormann and Stangl.
Last June 23 Stangl was extra-
dited from Brazil to Germany. This
is one of the very few cases where

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FORTY YEARS AGO...

Ahad Haam died, famous Hebrew writer and philosopher, cham-
pion of "Spiritual Zionism." Ahad Haam (pen name for Asher
Ginsberg) died in Tel Aviv, where he had settled in 1922 and where
he had lived in a house on "Ahad Haam Street," so named already
during his lifetime.

a foreign country handed a Nazi-
criminal over to Germany. Ac-
cording to a decision of the high
court of Brazil even Stangl may
be sentenced only to a limited pri
son term.
In Hesse about 50 trials will
be opened in the coming years
against Nazi-murderers. One of
the most important started only
recently in Darmstadt against 11
former members of the SS-spe-
cial command 4a of the "Einsatz-
gruppe C," who murdered 80,000
Jews in Ukraine. On Sept. 29,
and 30, 1941, they shot 33,771
Jews in Bahl Yar.
Of 128 cases in Hesse one third

will be suspended, according to

the statement of the general-prose-
cutor. On Nov. 8, the trial started
against the former German mini-
ster Fritz von Hahn, who deported
11,343 Jews from Macedonia to
Treblinka in 1943. Hahn is accused
of having deported 20,000 Jews
from Salonika to Auschwitz.
Another trial will start against
the members of police battalion
306. Nine of whom were responsi-
ble for liquidating the Ghetto of
Pinsk and killed at least 20,000
Jews.
I n Baden - Wuerttemberg 8 2
cases are now under investigation
For many months now a jury in
Stuttgart heard the most horrible
testimony about what happened in
Lvov, where all the Jews were
murdered. Witnesses described how
the blood of the murdered Jews
seeped the boots of the defendants.
In Bavaria, 795 persons are
still facing trial. One of them is
Franz Rademacher of Hitler's
foreign office. Rademacher, an
aide of Adolf Eichmann, killed
the Jews in Yugoslavia. For
many years he lived as a "ref-
ugee" in Syria and returned vol-
untarily to Germany a few
months ago. His trial will start
at the beginning of next year
in Bamberg.
In Munich members of various
"Einsatzgruppen" will soon be
brought to trial for killing Jews
in Nicolajev, Cherson and Yalta.
In Berlin, 10 state prosecutors
are preparing one of the biggest
trials against several so-called
"desk-murderers." The defendants
were high officials of the "se-
curity head office of the Reich,"
where Eichmann too did his
bloody job. Mr. Bovenspien, the
former head of the Gestapo in
Berlin, was arrested only in March
this year. In June five more lead-
ing officials were arrested in var-
ious parts of Western Germany
and brought to Berlin. Among
them is the former close aid of
Eichmann in the "Jewish section"
of his office, SS-Haupt-sturmfueh-
rer Fritz Woehrn.
This incomplete review of trials
still ahead indicates only to what
extent Nazi mass-murderers still
are to be brought to justice.

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

38—Friday, December 22, 1967

Ahad Haatn on a visit
to Palestine in 1911

Ahad Haam and Bialik

AHAD HAAM ADAGES
"The people's heart is the foundation on which the land will be
built."
"What is national existence if not the existence of a national
spirit? What is a nation's importance, if not the importance of
the spiritual treasures It has added to human culture!"
"There is only one object—and that Is the moral object: the
emancipation of ourselves from the inner slavery and spiritual
degradation which assimilation has produced in us."

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