Ilse Koch, notorious German war criminal, was today removed from the courtroom where she is being tried by a German court on charges of responsibility for 45 murders and complicity in 135 others. She was taken out after a new outbreak of what court physicians maintain is “feigned madness.”
This is the second time that the trial has proceeded in the absence of the defendant, who has been accused by numerous witnesses of ordering prisoners at the Buchenwald camp beaten and of ordering some of them murdered so that their tattaced skins might be used for ornaments. Yesterday the Koch woman returned to court after a day and ore-half’s absence during another fake fit.
When she arrived in court today, she refused to addrees her counsel. After 20 minutes, the judge interrupted the proceedings and ordered the three court doctors to examine her. Their decision was that she was faking and suggested she be hospitalized for several days. The judge ordered her removal and continuation of the trial.
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