U.S. Assistant High Commissioner for Germany Benjamin J. Buttenwieser, who was denied the platform of the Anti-Defamation League in Chicago last Sunday because of the organization’s disagreement with his proposed address on Germany, last night delivered the same speech before a closed meeting of the American Jewish Committee’s commission on Germany.
The major thesis of Mr. Buttenwieser’s speech was that with many Nazis punished–although some have escaped–it is time to display leniency and bring Germany back into the fold of democratic, anti-totalitarian nations. Queried about the Nazis who escaped punishment, the Assistant High Commissioner said that the accomplishments of the denazification program far outweighed its failings.
He asserted that if the U.S. had erred in Germany, it had done so on the side of decency. Conceding that the British and French had been more severe with the Germans than the Americans, he said that the other two powers maintained more personnel in Germany to carry out their occupation policies.
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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.
