The Israeli Organization of Partisans and Fighters Against the Nazis issued a statement here today warning of the need for vigilance against a resurgence of neo-Nazism, following release of two of the major Nazi war criminals from Spandau Prison in West Berlin. Baldur Von Schirach, leader of the Nazi Youth movement, and Albert Speer, Hitler’s Minister for Armaments, were released last Friday after completing 20-year terms for their Nazi careers.
The partisans group noted that a wave of sympathy had been expressed for the two freed Nazis, and warned that many former Nazi leaders still are unpunished for their part in the slaughter of European Jewry. The group also urged the West German Government to exert maximum efforts to find and bring to trial “thousands” of Nazi war criminals still escaping arrest and trial.
(In London, the British Broadcasting Company said today it had abandoned a plan to present a televised interview with Baldur Von Schirach. The BBC said it had dropped the idea when it became apparent that the former Nazi wanted to be paid “large sums” for the interview. It was also known that a large number of protests from both Jews and non-Jews had been sent to the BBC over the proposed interview.)
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