Twenty-eight months after the event, the public prosecutor here has filed criminal charges against seven Jewish DP’s, whom he accuses of having disturbed the peace and participated in a riot that broke out in May, 1952, when several hundred German police and customs officials, armed with rifles and clubs, accompanied by police dogs and an ambulance, swooped down on the last Jewish DP camp in Germany, Foehrenwald.
The uniformed Germans surrounded the camp in military-textbook fashion. When they advanced, the path of their vehicles was blocked by the inhabitants, whose memories of similar raids by Nazi troops on East European ghettos were still vivid. A scuffle ensued, with heads being bloodied on both sides. The policemen, who had been overheard uttering malignant anti-Semitic curses, fired into the air. They were withdrawn by higher headquarters, however, before major casualties occurred. It had been the aim of the police, so it was officially explained, to ascertain whether the pitiful camp stores stocked smuggled merchandise.
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.
