German legal authorities are now sitting through the massive material involved in considering the appeals of the 22 SS men convicted at this year’s Auschwitz Trial which ended in Frankfurt last summer, it was reported here today. It is not expected that hearings on the appeals will be held before next summer, the report said. In addition to the defendants’ appeals against the severity of some sentences, the prosecution is appealing against eight sentences which it considers to be too lenient.
In other developments concerning Nazi war criminals, an investigation is now under way concerning wartime Nazi murderers who are now living under aliases or are residing outside of West Germany. In the case of the latter group, extradition requests have been rejected in several instances by the countries harboring the criminals.
Of the best known of these cases is that of Dr. Josef Mengelo, the infamous Auschwitz selection doctor, who is believed to be living in Paraguay following a period of residence in Argentina. Another Nazi death camp physician, Dr. Heins Schumann, is at present the health adviser to the government of Ghana, which has refused to extradite him.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
