Paul Baender, Jewish-born veteran Communist leader who was sentenced to six years at hard labor in 1954 as a result of the anti-Semitic campaign in East Germany, was released from jail today. He was the highest ranking Jew arrested in the East German drive, and first of the East German Jews to be released since the recent Communist campaign for “Socialist legality.”
In 1952, Baender was ousted from his position as State Secretary of the Ministry of Supply. Later he was sentenced to jail for “upsetting the food supply of the population by deliberately false planning and through wrong directives.” Baender’s release came as part of an amnesty granted 88 political prisoners by East German President Wilhelm Pieck. At the same time, however, the Communist regime ordered also the release of 698 prisoners previously condemned as Nazi war criminals.
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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.
