A West Berlin court ordered a 21-year-old garage mechanic to write a 20-page essay on the Hitler era and fined him 100 marks ($25) for appearing in a Jewish shop with a large swastika painted on his overalls. The youth, Berndt Ruge, also was given a suspended seven-month prison term.
In East Berlin, President Walter Ulbricht admitted for the first time that former Nazis were active in his Government and in the Communist Party of East Germany. Mr. Ulbricht made the admission in a New Year’s message. He said that firmer Nazis are among those who were working to build a “socialist democracy” in East Germany and he held out the hand of friendship to former Nazis, appealing to them to support his Government.
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.
