A West Berlin court has imposed a three-month jail sentence upon a former Communist accused of shouting at his 73-year-old Jewish neighbor that “the Nazis just neglected to burn you Jews to a crisp.” The defendant, Walter Barthel, was fined $23, payable to the German Red Cross within six months, but his sentence was suspended pending good behavior for three years.
In an earlier trial of the same affair, the Jewish neighbor, who had been the object of Barthe’s abuse, was persuaded to withdraw his complaint provided the defendant paid a $12 voluntary find to the Jewish Community. Barthel undertook to do so but failed to carry out his promise. Thereupon, the complainant had the case reinstated.
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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.
