The entire German press, with the exception of the local Dortmund newspapers, today ignored the trial and acquittal yesterday of 20 members of the Dortmund police force on charges of murdering numerous Jews in the Nazi Warsaw Ghetto.
The local press reported that witnesses had testified that the policemen, members of a special guard battalion in the ghetto, shot Jews as a sport and tallied the number of their kills on mess hall doors and walls. Several of the defendants had actually confessed before the trial.
A notable feature of the trial was the testimony of policemen and other witnesses who had a remarkable loss of memory in the witness stand, asserting they “could not remember” details which they had included in signed statements two and three years ago. Only one witness, a conscious-stricken and now blind former member of the battalion, testified as he had done previously. The court ruled him incompetent.
One of the major points of the indictment was that these 20 had executed 100 male and 10 female Jews as hostages for the “murder” of one Nazi, a “murder” which it was proved never occurred. It was also noted that the commander of the unit had instructed the men always to shoot to kill when firing at Jews, else it “did not pay to use gasoline” as they rode through the ghetto.
The court, in acquitting the defendants, said that in view of their educational level they were not conscious of the illegality of their acts, nor could the prosecution refute their assertions that it was “customary” to shoot hostages, and that they were under compulsion to participate in such shootings and executions.
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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.
