Dr. Alexander Toerock, chief counselor of the West German Embassy in Israel, denied categorically here today that he had been a member of the Arrow Cross, the Nazi party in Hungary, as charged by Israeli newspapers yesterday.
After carefully examining a photo static copy of his alleged Arrow Cross membership card, printed by a Hungarian Communist newspaper last week, and reprinted in the Israeli press, Dr. Toerock said his purported Arrow Cross membership card was a forgery. He cited the facts that the card shown in the newspapers listed his mother’s religion as Catholic, whereas she was a Lutheran; and that his home address was different from the one shown on the card. He said his signature on the card had been forged.
A spokesman for the Israel Foreign Ministry said that, for the time being, the Ministry would abstain from taking a position on the charges against Dr. Toerock, awaiting his supply of further proof in support of his denial of the truthfulness of the charges.
When he was first appointed to his present post, last July, Israeli newspapers reprinted charges of his past membership in the Arrow Cross made in the Communist press in Budapest. Dr. Toerock, who is now a naturalized German citizen, was a Hungarian during the war, and represented Hungary in Berlin during the Nazi regime. However, he has consistently denied any membership in any Nazi organization, pointing out that a diplomat representing a country in a totalitarian state is not responsible for the politics of the country to which he is accredited.
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.
