A West German polling institute reported today that 57 percent of West Germany’s eligible voters want an end to trials of Nazi war criminals.
The Institute Fuer Demoslopie said that its nationwide poll had shown also that 32 percent of those over 21 favored continued prosecution and 11 percent had no opinion. Among respondents over 30 years af age, 46 percent said they had heard of Nazi atrocities against the Jews during the war. Six percent did not answer the question and 48 percent said they had learned about such crimes only after the end of the war.
Police announced today the arrest of two men on suspicion that they had written threatening leaflets, decorated with swastikas to all members of the Bundestag, West Germany’s lower house of Parliament, who had indicated they favored extension of the statute of limitations on prosecution of Nazi war criminals.
The leaflets were mailed last week shortly before the Bundestag voted in principle for extension of the statute beyond next May 8. The leaflets said the “fuehrer” of the area would kill each deputy who voted for extension.
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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.
