The Grisons Cantonal tribunal in a published explanation today of its reasons for sentencing David Frankfurter to 18 years in prison on Dec. 14 for the murder of Wilhel Gustloff, Nazi leader, attacked the German way of settling the Jewish problem, the Havas News Agency reported.
The court’s statement declared that “the persecutions of Jews in the Reich on which the defense dwelt at length had no determining influence on the jury’s verdict.
“It must be recognized at the same time that the solution of the Jewish problem sought by the Reich showed results which had painful impressions among the Swiss, who compare these results to their own conception of liberty of the individual and conscience. These phenomena appeared to them strange and incomprehensible.”
Bitter Nazi press attacks on Switzerland occurred after the sentence was passed. Germany had demanded death for Frankfurter in expiation for Gustloff’s murder.
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.
