At the end of a trial against druggist Hans Schmitt for having played a leading role in the pogrom of November 1938, a German judge at Bocholt, in the Ruhr, found the defendant guilty, imposed a nine-month prison term, then immediately remitted the sentence.
Some time ago the German Supreme Court ruled that it was not permissible to simply quash the case, as had been done earlier. Schmitt, who walked out of the courtroom a free man, had been identified by a Jewish woman as the leader of a gang of storm troopers who had wantonly smashed her parents’ apartment.
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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.
