Frederik Weinreb, a former Dutch Jewish leader, today appealed his conviction earlier this year on charges of having collaborated with the Nazis and of having betrayed fellow Jews to them. At the conclusion of the all-day hearing an Appellate Court denied a defense plea for the freeing of Weinreb, who was also charged with having embezzled money from Jews on the promise of rescuing them from the Gestapo.
The president of the court revealed that an additional charge has been lodged against Weinreb–that of betraying M. Edersheim, president of the Jewish Council of Haguei, to the German occupation authorities. The prosecutor told the court that if Weinreb is cleared of the charges originally bought against him, he would be re-arrested and tried on other counts.
The two defense attorneys analyzed the testimony presented during Weinreb’s previous trial and charged that detectives were attempting to “railroad” Weinreb in order to cover up the pro-Nazi activities of certain police agents. In response to defense charges that some 200 official reports on the Weinreb case still left the matter unclear, the prosecutor admitted that there were still many questions raised by the case which have not yet been answered. The court’s decision will be handed down on October 18.
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.