One of the biggest trials of Nazi war criminals ever held in Germany opened yesterday at Munster. On trial are 14 members of the Gestapo accused of murdering at least 80, 000 Jews and members of the Polish intelligentsia. One item in the 311-page indictment, which has been in preparation four years, charges that members of the group participated in the mass murders of “Bloody Sunday” — October 12, 1941 — when they massacred 12, 000 Polish and Hungarian Jews near Stanislavov, in Eastern Galicia.
The principal defendant, Hans Krueger, 56, a leader in Hitler’s security police organization, is accused of participating in the murder of at least 26, 000 persons. He is under arrest, but some of the other accused have not yet been taken into custody. Originally, 15 men were to have gone on trial. But, at the opening of the case yesterday the court ruled that one of the accused, Alfred Hass, 59, will be tried separately. He is in a hospital now, having attempted to commit suicide after he had been arrested.
The trial is expected to last about 10 months. The schedule shows that 120 witnesses will be heard, including 50 from abroad, many of these from Israel. Among the witnesses will be 50 former inhabitants of Stanislavov.
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