The Austrian people fail to “recognize responsibility” for its own Nazi past, “and hopes to shake off its own guilt by acquitting others.” Franz Cardinal Koenig, archbishop of Vienna, has declared in a radio broadcast here. The prelate discussed the recent acquittals of Nazi war criminals, including the release by a jury of Franz Novak, the Eichmann “transportation officer” who had sent many hundreds of thousands of Jews to their deaths in concentration camps.
“These acquittals,” said Cardinal Koenig, “have damaged the reputation of Austria in the world.” He said the acquittals, furthermore, could not be justified in view of past anti-Jewish atrocities and in consideration of the recent Ecumenical Council’s decree which repudiated the charge of collective guilt of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus.
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.
