Hans Sobotta, a 59-year-old former SS officer, was sentenced to life imprisonment today for the murders of three Jewish youths at a forced labor camp in Poland during World War II. He was acquitted on five other counts of murder because of lack of evidence. His trial lasted one month. Sobotta, who was the camp supervisor, was found guilty of fatally shooting two 11-year-old boys, one of them because he constantly wore a hat. He also shot a 17-year-old Jewish boy for not wearing the yellow Star of David which Jews were forced to wear on their arms.
Dr. Werner Best, a former Nazi representative in Denmark, will soon go on trial in West Berlin for murdering 9000 Jews and Poles between 1939-40. Best, 67, was released by Danish authorities in 1951 and was subsequently employed as a legal expert for a large West German industrial firm. He has been in custody of West Berlin authorities since March, 1969.
A pub owner in West Berlin was sentenced to five months imprisonment last week for stating that “all men should be equal except Jews and Communists.” Horst Mach, 35, made that remark during an interview on the “Sender Freies Berlin” radio. The interviewer said at the time that the State Prosecutor should take action against Mach for violating a statute against incitement to racial hatred.
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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.
