(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Investigating Judge Koelling and Landgerichts-direktor Hoffmann, who instigated false charges of murder against Rudolf Haas, Jewish manufacturer of Magdeburg, will be tried this month by a disciplinary court.
Hoffman and Koelling, it is charged, persuaded Schroeder, who later confessed that he murdered Haas’s book-keeper, Felling, in the summer of 1926, to accuse Haas of having committed the murder.
Haas was arrested and held in prison for some time, being subjected to many investigations, while the murderer enjoyed his freedom under the favor of Hoffmann and Koelling.
The case attracted wide attention in Germany, being termed at the time the “German Dreyfus affair.” The Liberals believed that the Jewish manufacturer of Magdeburg was innocent of the charge, while the nationalist and reactionary elements insisted that the Jew was guilty. The collapse of the “frame up” came about when Schroeder, who paraded as the accuser, finally confessed. Haas was released from prison in August, 1926. Announcement was then made that disciplinary proceedings would be started against the court officials implicated in the frame-up.
Public opinion in Germany is greatly interested in the outcome of the proceedings.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
