Fred Behrend, the 200-pound German seaman who attacked diminutive Rabbi Joshua Schusterman after an argument about Hitler last Friday, was a wiser and sadder man yesterday, when he began serving a fifteen-day sentence in the House of Detention workhouse. The sentence was imposed on the burly seaman by Magistrate Earl A. Smith in Night Court.
Behrend says he is not sorry he mauled the 105-pound rabbi. He feels he has done his duty. Rabbi Schusterman resides at 244 West Ninety-ninth street and is a graduate of the Breslau Theological School.
Last Friday the two men engaged in an argument over the German regime, which ended in a fist fight. Only one blow was struck. When the rabbi recovered he had the seaman arrested, and in Night Court the seaman pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, although he claimed his country had been insulted.
Magistrate Hugon Capshaw, after questioning the prisoner, found that Behrend had applied for first citizenship papers. The magistrate reprimanded the “valiant” seaman for his allegiance to Germany, in the face of his application for American citizenship.
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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.
