An organization of Holocaust survivors has demanded the immediate dismissal of Franz Schoenhuber, vice editor in chief of the Bavarian State radio and television station, who is author of the recently published book “I Was There,” extolling the notorious Waffen SS.
A resolution to that effect was adopted by 400 delegates attending the assembly of the Council for Freedom and Right in Munich. The book was denounced as an insuit to survivors of Nazi concentration camps and a source of “shock and anguish” to them. It had made the best seller lists in West Germany, largely because of the publicity given it by numerous protests and received a “rave” review in the newspaper of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NPD).
Barbara Distl, head of the memorial at the site of the Dachau concentration camp near Munich, told the meeting that Schoenhuber’s book confirmed the thesis that while the survivors of Nazism continue to be agonized by the past, those who committed the atrocities adopt a self-righteous manner.
In a message to the assembly, Frankfurt historian Eugen Kogon said Schoenhuber must have known that there is substantial evidence proving that members of the Waffen SS played a major role in the liquidation of Jews in the Soviet Union and elsewhere and often served in regular SS units guarding concentration camps.
Schoenhuber was invited to the meeting but failed to show up. His book has been described by West German trade unionists as a menace to youth because it upholds Nazi ideology.
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.
