A former SS (Elite Guard) sergeant was sentenced to life in prison last week for murdering 47 Jews in the ghetto of Tarnow, Poland, during World War II, But the court that found 61-year-old Karl Opperman, a tax official, guilty, acquitted another defendant, Gerhard Gaa, 63. of complicity in murder. The court said that Gaa had not acted with malicious intent and could go free under provisions of West Germany’s reformed penal code that precludes punishment for persons who did not commit murder willfully.
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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.
