Ludwig Zind, German high school teacher convicted of public anti-Semitic statements and defamation of the memory of the dead, disappeared this week-end from his home in Offenburg within 24 hours after the Federal Supreme Court at Karlsruhe had rejected an appeal against his conviction and sentencing.
Zind was convicted last April after a trial which followed a wave of protest throughout Germany. He was convicted of having told Kurt Leiser, a half-Jew, during a quarrel that the Nazis had not gassed enough Jews,
Border guards and police throughout Germany have been warned to be on the look-out for Zind, though the Offenburg prosecutor believes he has already fled the country. When questioned by the authorities, his wife said he was visiting a friend. It was subsequently discovered the friend had been dead a year.
In addition to upholding the conviction, the Supreme Court also ruled that his suspension from the teaching post by civil service officials was justified. It rejected a defense contention that Zind’s statements were made under the influence of alcohol and should not there fore be held against him.
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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.
