The home and business of a Jewish restaurant owner in West Berlin was destroyed by arson Friday night a day after a West Berlin court sentenced 10 neo-Nazis to prison terms ranging from six months to three years on a charge of forming a secret Nazi Party chapter. The arsonists also painted the walls of the apartment with anti-Semitic signs.
According to police, the arsonists poured gasoline into the building and ignited the structure. Police said they found swastikas, the Star of David and the slogan “Jews get out” smeared on the walls of the restaurant and the upstairs apartment. The owner, Gunther Alon, his wife and three children, were on vacation and the restaurant was closed. There were no injuries.
In sentencing the 10 neo-Nazis, Judge Wolfgang Hueller of the Berlin district court said he wanted “all to see and make sure that the Nazi gas chamber party can never again raise its head.” Two other men were sentenced to 18 and 14 months in prison, and others in the group-five men and two women-received suspended sentences and fines ranging up to $500.
Manfred Kittlaus, the West Berlin inspector in charge of political crimes, reported that neo-Nazi offenses and activities in the city had nearly tripled, to almost 300 in the first half of 1979 over the same period in 1978.
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.
