Trial against 11 persons charged with terrorizing a Jewish family in Koeppern early this year will start on October 8 before an extended Frankfurt jury court, the Frankfurt Office of Prosecution announced today.
The defendants will be tried on charges of libel, bodily injury, property damage, misdemeanor and coercion and disturbing the peace. One of the defendants also may be tried on a charge of public condonation of Nazi crimes.
The indictment was based on a systematic boycott and terrorization of Kurt Sumpf, an Israel citizen, by youthful hooligans after he opened a cafe last year in Koeppern, a small town in the Taunus Mountains. Mr. Sumpf had charged that Koeppern police had not only failed to protect him from his tormentors but had stood by approvingly as three of the defendants assaulted him.
Recently he closed his cafe and moved to Frankfurt. He said he had done so because his eight-year-old son had come home from school one day and asked his father: “Is it a crime to be a Jew?” The father said he feared his son might be injured by schoolmates.
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