A Foreign Ministry spokesman disclosed here today that the Ministry was investigating reports that Alexander Toeroek, West Germany’s selection as counselor to the Bonn Embassy in Israel, was closely associated with the Nazis during World War II.
Toeroek is a member of an advance party of the West German Embassy scheduled to arrive in Israel Wednesday. Dr. Rolf Pauls, the first West German Ambassador to Israel, will arrive August 11 and present his credentials during that week.
The Foreign Ministry spokesman referred to reports that Toeroek, a Hungarian who became a naturalized German, served during the war as secretary to the Hungarian Embassy in Berlin, when the Germans occupied Hungary. According to the reports, Hungary’s wartime Berlin Embassy was a reception center for Nazi orders, including those for the destruction of Hungarian Jewry.
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.
