The decision of the public prosecutor to drop proceedings against Dr. Theodor Oberlaender, who was accused of participation in a 1941 massacre of Polish Jews, was welcomed today by Felix von Eckhardt, chief spokesman for the West German Government.
The decision of the public prosecutor followed an 11-month Judicial investigation which produced “no evidence” that the former West German Minister for Refugee Affairs was involved in the atrocity in Lvov in German-occupied Poland. The charges, which originated from Communist sources, forced Dr. Oberlaender to resign the Cabinet post last May.
Von Eckhardt said it was necessary to make the result of the investigation widely known because of the propaganda campaign conducted against Dr. Oberlaender in East Germany. He added that there was no question of Dr. Oberlaender being readmitted to the West German Cabinet.
The public prosecutor’s office, in justifying its refusal to issue an indictment, reported that the testimony of scores of witnesses and a study of Nuremberg trial records did not produce any evidence that Dr. Oberlaender had any part-in the pogrom or in causing any members of his battalion to take part in the killings.
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.
