Proof that Wilhelm Gustloff, for whose slaying last February David Frankfurter, young Jewish medical student, is on trial here, planned annexation by Germany of German sections of Switzerland was adduced today by Dr. Eugen Curti, chief of defense counsel.
Dr. Curti read from what were described as official documents in support of his charge that Gustloff, Swiss Nazi leader, had attempted to effect such a plan.
The attorney, who has been called Switzerland’s Clarence Darrow, pointed out that Gustloff’s official status of Chancellor Hitler’s personal representative placed him above the German Ambassador in rank. He said this was proved by the Swiss official condolences following the murder and also by the State funeral given him in Germany.
Marshalling facts to illustrate Nazi persecution of Jews, Dr. Curti told of Gustloff’s role in Switzerland, stressing his complete control over all Germans in Switzerland.
To emphasize his "moral justification" defense, Dr. Curti submitted in evidence an album of photos depicting persecution of Jews in Germany. He submitted additional testimony on the persecutions of Jews in and out of concentration camps, setting out to prove that this persecution is systematic and general.
Dr. Curti quoted at length from the letter of resignation of James G. MacDonald, League of Nations Commissioner for political refugees, describing in detail the treatment accorded Jews in Germany.
FRANKFURTER HELD NO "WILLIAM TELL"
The contention that in killing Gustloff, Frankfurter acted as a "William Tell," freeing the Swiss from an oppressor, was attacked yesterday by counsel for the Nazi leader’s widow.
Dr. Friedrich Ursprung, demanding that Frankfurter pay 99,000 Swiss francs (about $22,000) indemnity to Mrs. Gustloff, told the court that the Nazi leader’s activities in Switzerland were "beneficent."
He asked 50,000 francs for Mrs. Gustloff for loss of her husband and 49,000 francs covering his anticipated salary for twenty years as an assistant in the Davos Physico-Meteorological Institute.
Prosecutor Friedrich Bruegger charged the assassination was premeditated and demanded eighteen years’ imprisonment. The Yugoslavian Jewish medical student has confessed all details of the assassination and declared he was motivated by a desire to avenge the persecuted Jews in Germany.
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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.
