Dr. Fritz Bauer, prosecutor for the State of Hesse, confirmed here today that a criminal investigation has been launched into the wartime activities of Dr. Hans Globke, West German State Secretary and right-hand man to Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. Reports that such a probe was under way had emanated recently from Communist sources in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union.
The State Attorney declined to reveal the specific reasons for the new probe. Dr. Globke was the commentator of the Nuremberg race laws during the Nazi regime, and has been accused of interpreting the laws in a fashion which made their application of maximum harm to German Jews.
In recent weeks, Soviet, East German and Czechoslovak authorities have accused him of direct cooperation with Adolf Eichmann, the SS Colonel who directed the extermination of the 6,000,000 European Jews, and who is now awaiting trial in Israel. The Communist accusers charged that Dr. Globke implemented laws in Nazi-occupied territories which prepared the way for the mass murder of Jews.
A spokesman in the Chancellor’s office told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the investigation against Dr. Globke was only of a “preliminary” nature. The spokesman declared that Chancellor Adenauer and Dr. Globke had filed libel charges against some unidentified persons who have accused Dr. Globke of preventing the liberation of 10,000 Greek Jews and their travel to countries abroad. The spokesman said Dr. Globke had declared he never spoke with Eichmann, and that there was no foundation for the report about the Greek Jews.
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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.
