Johann Mauer, 51, and his brother Wilhelm, 47, went on trial here again today for the murder of thousands of Polish Jews in the Stanislav Ghetto in 1941, after an acquittal earlier this year was set aside by the Austrian High Court. 1 the original indictment, the Polish-born brothers, who voluntarily joined Hitler’s SS Elite Guard, were charged with participating in the “Bloody Sunday” massacre of October 12, 1941, when about 20,000 Polish Jews were drive to the Stanislav cemetery, and 12,000 of them were shot.
A salzburg jury acquitted the two Nazis last February, on the ground that they had acted under “compulsory orders.” The Salzburg Senate, however, immediately suspended the verdict, and the Austrian High Court later ordered a new trial. The new trial of the Mauer brothers follows only a few days after the sensational acquittal here of Franz Novak, a former aide of Nazi mass murderer Adolf Eichmann. That acquittal has resulted in protests from various parts of the world as well as a sit-down protest demonstration by Austrian students in downtown Vienna.
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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.
