Five displaced Jews including a rabbi will be tried here tomorrow by a U.S. Army military court on charges of rioting and assault. If convicted, each faces a ten-year jail sentence and a $10,000 fine.
There has been increasing tension here as a result of friction between displaced persons in five nearby camps and Austrian civilians. (Several Jewish organizations this week urged the evacuation of displaced Jews from Austria before the withdrawal of Allied troops, fearing that they will be persecuted by the local population.)
The charges against the Jews resulted from an outbreak of violence Feb. 19. There were three separate incidents, two involving Austrians and Jews. The third, of which nothing has been said officially, involved American military police.
The Jews, all of whom are from Poland, fought in the Polish army during the war. A representative of the World Jewish Congress is on route to Salzburg to protect the interests of the five.
There are conflicting stories of what happened on Feb. 19. The first fight broke out when a young Jew and Rabbi Moses Weise boarded a bus to the Riedanburg camp where 2,000 DP’s reside. The Jews claim that the bus driver abused the young Jew and threw him off the vehicle. Later, 200 Jews stopped another bus near the camp and broke several windows. The five defendents are accused of having beaten Alfred Bruscha, an Austrian traffic inspector.
After the second incident, American military police entered the camp bringing with them a number of Austrians to identify the Jews who participated in the bus riot. Another fight broke out, involving the Americans, the Jews and Austrian police. The details of this clash are still unclear.
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