Chancellor Ludwig Erhard ordered an investigation yesterday into East German and Polish allegations that Hans Krueger, his newly named Minister for Refugees, had been a Nazi judge in occupied Poland and that he had been a Nazi party member for 12 years. After a lengthy conference with the Chancellor, the 61-year-old Kruger suspended himself from office pending the outcome of the investigation. He was the only member of the West German Cabinet personally chosen by Erhard when the latter took office last October.
The charges against him were first raised in December by East German authorities and for several weeks Kruger categorically denied them. Then he began admitting the accuracy of individual charges as Soviet sources started publishing documentary evidence.
The post from which he suspended himself had been filled previously by another German under a Nazi cloud–Dr. Theodor Obertaender, who resigned under pressure in 1960 because of his Nazi past.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
