The federal grand jury, which for the last three months has been hearing testimony of various persons concerned with Nazi affairs in the United States and which handed down an indictment against Heinz Spanknoebel two months ago, was discharged yesterday.
It was explained that the time specified by law for a grand jury to be in session, three months, had elapsed and adjournment therefore became automatic.
In discharging the jury, Federal Judge Grover C. Moscowitz tendered the thanks of the court for their services and complimented the members of the jury on the manner in which they heard testimony and acted upon it.
William Prager, Assistant United States Attorney, explained after the grand jury had been discharged that the adjournment did not necessarily imply that the federal investigation of Nazi affairs had been dropped. When asked whether or not he was contemplating resuming hearings before a new grand jury Mr. Prager was uncommunicative.
A large majority of the witnesses called before the federal grand jury, now adjourned, had been members of the League of Friends of New Germany, an organization created and led by Heinz Spanknoebel, now a fugitive from justice for having failed to present credentials as a German agent to the United States Department of State, a law created during the World War to cope with the threat of spies and agitators. No other indictments were handed down by the jury.
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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.
