The High Court of the Karlsruhe Senate rejected this weekend a prosecution demand for a new trial and a stiffer sentence for former SS General Karl Wolff, who was sentenced in Munich last September to 15 years imprisonment at hard labor for complicity in some 300 cases of wartime murder of Jews.
Gen. Wolff, a onetime adjutant to Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler, escaped trial during the Allied War Crimes Trial at Nuremberg because he had secretly negotiated the quick surrender of the German army in Italy. He was tried and convicted by a German de-Nazification court and sentenced to a four year term. He was freed after serving one week and was living in a luxurious villa near Munich when he was re-arrested in 1962 on charges of complicity in the murder of 300,000 Polish Jews by providing transport to ship them to the Treblinka death camp.
After the Munich trial, the defense asked for a new trial, seeking Wolff’s acquittal. The prosecutor also filed for a new trial, demanding a life sentence. The High Court found that there were no judicial errors in the Wolff trial and rejected the appeals for a new trial. The effect of the ruling was to order the lower court to implement its sentence.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
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.
