Petitions calling for the extension of West Germany’s statute of limitations for the prosecution of major Nazi war criminals beyond next May 8 were sent to Bonn authorities today by the Council of Jews from Germany. The identical petitions were transmitted to the leaders of the government in Bonn as well as to both houses of the German Parliament.
Failure to prosecute Nazis after next May, the Council stated in its petitions, “would be felt as a serious injustice. We find it intolerable to think that the decision to terminate such prosecutions is the result of thorough deliberation.”
“The decision,” stated the Council, would set limits to prosecution of such criminals and would equate the outrageous murders of a system based on the denial of all cultural and moral values with crimes committed from individual greed, passion or revenge.”
The Council told the German authorities that the statute must be extended beyond next May or abolished altogether, as in France. It insisted that Germany must recognize the fact that the Nazi deeds are “not comparable to normal crimes.”
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