Rep. Leonard Farbstein, New York Democrat, made known today that he has asked Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara for a detailed explanation of the firing of a Jewish chemist from a U.S. Navy civilian job by a German national accused of prejudice in a pending court suit.
The Congressman said he has asked Mr. McNamara for a report on the case in which Bernard Perlstein, of Washington, was fired after 23 years of service by Dr. Martin Zimmer, who came here from Germany to take Federal employment three years ago. Dr. Zimmer, who is not yet an American citizen, was accused by Mr. Perlstein, in a suit filed in the U.S. Court of Claims, with displaying “bias, malice and projudice.” Mr. Perlstein held that Dr. Zimmer singled him out for “marked antagonism.”
Navy spokesmen declined to comment on the case. Rep. Farbstein said it was “highly peculiar that a civil servant who has served faithfully for 23 years should suddenly be dismissed by an alien who grew up in Nazi Germany.”
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