West German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard in
the Thick of Embarrassing Hot 'Krueger Case
9
By JOHN DORNBERG
JTA Correspondent in West Germany
(Copyright, 1964, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
BONN—The suspension of West German Refugee Minister Hans Krueger has
touched off the biggest crisis to date for Chancellor Ludwig
Erhard, and one of the hottest political disputes here in recent
years.
Hours after Krueger announced that he was asking for his
own suspension from office, pending the outcome of an inves-
tigation into his Nazi background, the Social Democratic Party
fired off a broadside that goes to the heart of the affair.
"It is high time, said SPD spokesman Franz Barsig, "that
the federal government take steps to examine the personal
histories of cabinet members before their appointment, so that
Pankow (East Germany) doesn't get a chance to impeach
them." It seems only natural, said the SPD, that the back-
grounds of ministers would be checked more carefully than
Ludwig Erhard those of any other public officials.
Schildkraut
Saga
About
Presidential
Running
Mates
Commentary
Page 2
Under the German parliamentary system, unlike the requirements of the U.S.
Constitution for example, cabinet appointments are not subject to ratification or
investigation by the Bundestag, the lower house of Parliament.
The Krueger affair, fused by East German allegations that the minister had
served as a judge and prosecutor on special Nazi summary courts in Poland,
and had participated in Hitler's and Ludendorff's November 1923 march on the
Feldlierrnhalle in Munich, is especially embarrassing to Chancellor Erhard.
Not only had most Germans and the world hoped that with the resignation
of Konrad Adenauer there would be a new era in Bonn, but Krueger was the only
new member of the cabinet to take office with Erhard last Oct. 16 to have been
personally selected by the new chancellor.
Adenauer's position on officials with Nazi background was always clear, an
SPD source pointed out. When Krueger's predecessor, Prof. Theodor Oberlaender,
was under fire for much the same reason, Adenauer resisted demands to fire him
Continued on Page 32
THE JEWISH NE
A Weekly Review
I Jewish Events
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper — Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
VOLUME XLIV — No. 24
Printed in a
100% Union Shop
Iraqi Rules
Menace
5,000 Jews
ORT'S New
Service Plans
New Goals in
Our Campaign
Editorials
Page 4
W. 7 Mile Rd.—VE 8-9364—Detroit 35, February 7, 1964—$6.00 Per Year; This Issue 20c
Nazi Exposes, More Arrests
Lead to 2nd Auschwitz Trial
Jewish Organizations to Act
Against USSR Policy on Jews
at Parley Set for April 5-6
NEW YORK, (JTA)—A national Jewish confer-
ence, representing all major Jewish organizations—
religious and secular—will be held in Washington on
April 5 and 6, to voice the unified protest of American
Jewry against the suppression of Jewish culture and
Jewish religious rights in the Soviet Union.
A decision to summon such a conference was
adopted at a parley of representatives of Jewish organi-
zations active in all phases of Jewish life in this country.
The American Jewish Committee and the Synagogue
Council of America agreed to join in calling the Wash-
ington conference which will, in addition to discussing
the situation of the Jews in the Soviet Union, also send
a delegation to the White House. A delegation of the
eonference will also seek to present the recommenda-
tions of the parley to Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet
ambassador in Washington, for transmission to Soviet
Premier Nikita Khrushchev.
At the preliminary parley held in camera at Hotel
Delmonico by representatives of all the interested
Jewish organizations, tentative preparations were dis-
cussed for the broadest measures to attract the widest
attention of the American people to the discriminations
Continued on Page 16
FRANKFURT (JTA)—A second Auschwitz murder camp trial, involving 20
defendants, will open here as soon as the current case against 22 former guards and
officers is completed, a district court spokesman announced.
Reporting that preliminary investigation into the cases of the 20 defendants
had been completed, he said the trial could begin immediately but the delay was
forced by the lack of courtroom facilities. The defendants in the forthcoming
Auschwitz trial include former SS men up to the rank of major and two former
inmates, both criminal prisoners.
Charges and evidence in the case already fill 20 volumes, and hundreds of
former Auschwitz inmates have been questioned in investigations that included
research in Israel, Poland, East Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Only three
of the 20 defendants are in pre-trial confinement, the other 17 having been released
on bail.
Among the 20 are the former labor chief of the camp at Birkenau and two
commandants of subsidiary camps in the huge murder complex. Four are former SS
truck drivers charged with aiding and abetting murder by transporting inmates to
the gas chambers in trucks. As compensation for this work, they received extra
rations of food and whiskey.
Other defendants are members of the camp secret police, and a medic
responsible for making up the duty roster of the hospital and medical staff. This
roster listed the camp doctors and medical assistants assigned to take part in
selection for gassing of inmates arriving at Birkenau and those assigned to
supervising the gas executions. One of the two criminal inmates is charged with
having murdered Fritz Beda-Loehner, the librettist of operetta composer Franz
Lehar.
At the trial against 22 guards and officers of the Auschwitz camp, Josef
Klehr, 59, a carpenter who served in the camp for four years as a medic, admitted
killing 250 inmates over a two-month period by giving them injections of phenolic
acid directly into the heart. In addition to charges that he killed or aided in the
Jewish Education Is Rated 'Major Idea' ;
Schools Honored at Federation Meeting
Tribute to the United Hebrew Schools, on the occasion of the community's educational
system's 45th anniversary, and recognition of the schools' accomplishments and their plans
for continued expansion of Detroit's cultural activities, marked the 38th annual meeting of
the Jewish Welfare Federation, at the Jewish Center, Tuesday evening.
At this meeting, Max M. Fisher, president of the Federation, who presided at the gather-
ing, became the 14th recipient of the Fred M. Butzel Memorial Award for distinguished corn-
munal service.
The official honors to the Hebrew Schools were extended by Fisher, and David Safran,
president of the schools; and Albert Elazar, the schools' superintendent, responded.
A third year student of the schools, Martin Fridson, gave the invocation in Hebrew and in
English at the dinner that preceded the annual meeting.
The gathered 400 dinner guests joined Hyman Safran in a toast with wine from Israel
to the United Hebrew Schools' 45th anniversary.
In his opening remarks as chairman of the meeting, Fisher acclaimed the Hebrew Schools
and referred to Jewish education as "the com munity's major idea."
In his address evaluating the schools' obje ctives and reviewing their history, David Safran
spoke of "the rewarding program" which enh antes the work of the educators.
He described the development of educatio nal standards here, the growth of the schools
to their present student population of 4,000 in 14 branches, receiving their Jewish education
from a staff of 125 teachers.
Safran told of the enlistment of congrega tional schools and other affiliates into the school
system. He said the schools' total budget is $89 2,000, of which $460,000 is the Federation allo-
cation. He appealed for continued community support and aid from individuals by means of
memberships and endowments, in order to as sure continued progress for the school system.
Recalling the leaders of the past, Safran listed the presidents who preceded him since
the United Hebrew Schools were founded in 1919: Esser Rabinowitz, M. H. Zackheim, Robert
Continued on Page 3
Continued on Page 16
Abraham Borman Gives
$50,000 Israel Bonds Gift
for WSU Scholarship Fund
Abraham Borman, leading Detroit businessman,
philanthropist and communal leader, presented an ini-
tial gift towards a $50,000 endowment in State of Israel
Bonds to Wayne State Uni-
versity to establish a fund
for scholarships from the
proceeds of the interest on
the Bonds.
Borman, chairman of the
board of Borman Food
Stores, Inc., which sponsors
the Borman Near-Eastern
lecture series at Wayne, is
shown presenting the Israel
Bonds to Dr. Clarence B. Hil-
berry, president of the uni-
versity. The scholarship fund
A. Borman
will provide $2,000 annually
from the 4 per cent return on the Bonds, and will be
administered through the Office of the Student Finan-
cial Aids of the University.
Borman is co-chairman of the 1964 Detroit Allied
Jewish Campaign, a vice president of the United Foun-
dation and an Israel Bond Golden Trustee.
MARCH 27, 1992
93