Four editors of “Krystall,” one of the most widely-circulated picture magazines in West Germany, won their fight today against the appointment of a former Nazi diplomat to a key post on the publication.
Axel Springer, the magazine’s publisher, announced that Dr. Paul Schmidt, had “voluntarily” resigned as political editor of the publication. The four editors had refused to work with Schmidt and had threatened to resign if he remained a member of the staff.
Schmidt, a former official in the Nazi Foreign Office under Joachim von Ribbentrop, had been exposed as having played a major role in the deportation of Jews from Hungary in the summer of 1944. He was the author of a memorandum to the Nazi Ambassador in Budapest which outlined preparations to be made for the large-scale deportations and measures to forestall any outcry in the free world.
“We must prepare the forthcoming large-scale action against the Budapest Jews by inciting incidents of sabotage and revolt,” he directed the envoy. He said explosives should be planted in synagogues and Jewish community buildings “so that the enemy will not be able to shout about German cruelty.”
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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.
