The Dutch Minister of Justice. Dr. Anton Beerman, refused this weekend during debate in the lower chamber of Parliament to commit his Government to permanent imprisonment for four German war criminals convicted of participation in the deportation and gassing of more than 100,000 Dutch Jews.
The four SS men–Lages, Kotalla. Ausderfueten and Fischer–originally were sentenced to death but the sentences later were commuted to life imprisonment.
Dr. C. Berkhouwer, a Liberal Member of Parliament, urged Dr. Beerman to declare that the four Nazis would never be released. Dr. Beerman replied that the right of pardon was a prerogative of the Crown and that it was impossible to tie the hands of a future government on the question.
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