After a sensational court trial which lasted five days, Engineer Adolph Weisblatt and Engineer Lichtenbaum were sentenced to six months in jail after being found guilty in connection with the collapse of a six-story government building last winter in which two workmen were killed. Weisblatt, grey-haired builder and prominent in several Warsaw Jewish philanthropic organizations, and Lichtenbaum, director of building activities, as well as other engineers, were arrested on charges of negligence and swindle after the catastrophe. Twelve experts, university professors, declared that the material which they used for the building was faultless and that only the stormy weather of that Winter was to blame for the catastrophe.
The court held that Weisblatt and Lichtenbaum were not guilty of neglecting their duty but that they were to blame for supplying faulty building material. The sentence has called forth consternation in Jewish circles here and an appeal against the sentence will be taken.
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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.